The team

Tourguide Bob Konings

Former teacher Bob Konings moved with his wife and two sons from Roosendaal (the Netherlands) to the Ardennes and started bed and breakfast Bo Temps. From the start he was interested in the events that took place during that short periode from 16 december 1944 ’till the 25th of January 1945.
He decided to dive deep in to the stories of those young soldiers who fought many battle in and around his new village.

Early 2009 Bob published his website www.grandmenil.com and before he knew it his mailbox exploded and filled up with emails from veterans, familymembers and people who were interested in the battles in and around the area.
Bob met 3rd AD/36th AIR veteran Robert (Bob) Kauffman for the first time in May 2009 and they became close friends. Bob Kauffman visited the area many times and spoke a lot about his war experiences.
During the following years, Bob Konings has met and spoken with other veterans, civilians and experts.

The last years he spent a lot of time on two major stories:
– The B-24 crashsite in La Fosse, which he solved with the help of many people and which resulted in a beautiful documentary, created by Dutch film maker Joey van Meesen.
– On 10 January 2022, after 11 years of research, the unknown story “The Ottré massacre, an inconvienent truth” was published. With that, Bob finished his longest research. The article tells the story of the so called “Ottré Massacre”: two platoons of the 83rd Infantry Division, 331st regiment/ F company ran into a German ambush and all men were killed, leaving only one survivor. Durng the years Bob came to another conclusion.
At the moment he is researching smaller events and writing down individual stories of US soldiers.

Bob has been guiding around groups since 2010. Not only people who are interested in the Battle of the Bulge, but also a lot of familymembers, whose (grand)father, brother or uncle  fought or got killed in the second world war.

Last June 2022 he was awarded a cetrificate including a lifetime membership of the South Carolina Chapter of the Battle of the Bulge Association for the work he does for veterans and families.
“We appreciate your support to our veterans of World War II and other families and enthusiasts when they visit Belgium. Even if our membership cannot visit your country in person, you have helped them identify locations and positions that were important to them during the infamous battle 77 years ago. You continue to help those trying to retrace their ancestor’s footsteps when little is known about their actual war time experiences.“

Assistant director Eveline Konings

Eveline, Bob’s wife, is the one who will review your email and answer your questions.
Besides that, she’s the contactperson for booking agency’s, guesthouse bookings and contactperson for research requests.
She also will take care of reservations during the Battlefield tours.
If you are staying in in our guesthouse, she will be your host.
Eveline is part of Bob’s researchteam. She does Civillian interviews and joins fieldtrips.
Living in the Ardennes, Eveline knows all the highlights in the Ardennes. You can hire her as your private tourdriver. She will bring you to special places, like Durbuy, Stavelot, breweries, etc. See the tourpage for more information.
Next to this she is a psychologist, specialised in PTSD and trauma release. She helps out families with questions regarding the behavior of their (late) relative or even how trauma can continue in the family through generations.

Here you can see Bob’s work:

– www.grandmenil.com
– www.battle-of-the-bulge.be
– www.b24-kingsize.com
Bob is also a member of the team of Footstepsresearchers.