Christopher Sims was born in Nottingham, UK on 8 November 1953. Son of a British father and Belgian mother he emigrated with his parents to Belgium in 1965 where he graduated high school at the St. Vincentius College, Ypres in 1972. Although continuing his higher education at the Institute for Paramedic Studies in Gent, he eventually followed in the footsteps of his father and was assigned as Cemetery Associate to the Flanders Field American Cemetery in 1974. He retired in January 2015 after more than 40 years of service with the American Battle Monuments Commission. During his tenure he acquired an in depth knowledge of the military campaigns and U.S. involvement in the Flanders region and researched many stories of the individual soldiers buried in the cemetery. He has also given presentations on the US soldiers of Flanders Fields in Belgium, France and in the USA. Through his friendship with John Giles, Founder of the Western Front Association in 1980, he became one of the contacts in Belgium of this renowned association in 1983. In 1989 he established the Belgian Branch of the Western Front Association and became its first area chairman. His lifelong friendship with Patrick Lernout encouraged them both to embark on a 12 year research project and completing this historical work.
