Keep the Home Fires Burning

Saturday 4th May 2013

The names of the dead ring out.

Walking towards the relatively new visitor centre at the Tyne Cot Cemetery the names of the dead can be heard spoken out loud as you walk along the path to the entrance. Once inside the visitor centre the names continue at a respectful pace, an eerie reminder of where you are.

We absorbed the information the visitor centre had to offer, things to read, videos to watch. Some familiar, some new, but all relevant.

When visiting a cemetery that is the resting place for nearly 12000 soldiers and a memorial to an additional 34000 soldiers, I feel you can not truly appreciate it without knowing about all the events that led to them to be there.

Stepping out of the visitor centre we followed the path down the side of the cemetery and headed to the main entrance. Our first sight of the cemetery, the sideways view of rows and rows of gravestones.




Finally we reach the entrance.




Excuse me for stating the obvious but there are a lot of grave stones at Tyne Cot. As we enter the cemetery this becomes very obvious. The grave stones all stand together in seemingly perfect geometrical alignment, playing tricks on the eyes like an optical illusion, but this is no illusion. Each stone and each name inscribed on the walls represents a soul who lost their life in a conflict I find harder and harder to understand.





Several German bunkers sit here, relics of the conflict, guarded by trees.




We take a closer look at the grave stones. Many graves identify people by name, others do not.

Some of the graves have no name.	Some of the graves have a regiment but still no name.

The graves are maintained with such care. The grass is cut, the edges trimmed. Flowers are planted. Grave stones that are old and worn are repaired. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission does an incredible job.

The stones not only name the soldiers and regiments, they also include the emblem of the regiments.

These are some of the emblems we saw:



We approach what I now know is called the Cross of Sacrifice and turn around to once more survey the full extent of the cemetery. It is a lot to take in.





The Memorial to Missing lies beyond. A wall made up of panels inscribed with the names of missing soldiers, an imposing sight curving around the back of the cemetery.

 

We walk up the length of the wall and pay our respects. It is the least we can do, before finally departing.

The next stop is the 20^th Light Division memorial in Langemark, another place my grandfather had been.

To be continued...

Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty

Saturday 4th May 2013

Today would see our first full day in Belgium. Much was planned.

The battlefields, memorials and museums we intended to visit formed a circle from Ieper around which we would be travelling anti-clockwise.

A hearty breakfast and a couple of mugs of tea and we were set.

Hill 62 – Sanctuary Wood

Hill 62 is one of the hills around Ieper sitting next to Sanctuary Wood. As a hill it is not that impressive but it seems if you mount some artillery and a force of soldiers on it then it is another story. The elevation provides a clear view over the land towards Ieper.

This is one of the hills held by the Germans and from which Ieper and the allied forces were bombarded by artillery. In the picture below you can see in the distance the clock towers in Ieper.



The hill is now the home of the Hill 62 Memorial. A memorial to the Canadian forces that took the hill from the Germans.

We had evidence that this is one of the places my grandfather had been, and standing on the top of the hill looking around at the countryside, which before the war probably looked much the same as it does now, it is difficult to imagine the scenes witnessed by him looking out over the same view nearly one hundred years ago.

After a slow walk around the memorial, with thoughts of what had been, we headed back down the hill to the Sanctuary Wood Museum.




An interesting place with many artefacts and lots of photographs (some not for the faint hearted). Around the back they also had trenches which were unintentionally authentically presented with a thick lining of mud and water on the floor. A very impressive sight.




The cost of €10 each was a little high relative to other places but there were a lot of things to see as well as a café, although we did not stop.

In one area they had some of the well known posters from the UK aimed to help motivate people to join up, along with many examples of posters used from some of the other countries involved in the conflict.




It of course goes without saying that the Sanctuary Wood Museum/Café sported both flags and artillery.



Our next destination was thankfully one of the POIs we had downloaded to the SatNav before we came.

Punching it in we were off.

Passchendaele Memorial Museum

The journey was thankfully uneventful and with the museum having its own parking we arrived relaxed, with an air of confidence, although slightly hungry.

The Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 is a relatively new museum and very well situated with a park and water close by. Also a separate café building where hungry people can stop for a bite to eat (also perfect if you are simply a bit peckish) .



The museum is very impressive. Lots of information about the war in general and detailed information about what happened in the infamous battles around Passchendaele.

Particularly impressive is a reconstruction of an allied deep dugout. Very realistic, especially when you can’t workout how to get out!

All in all a great experience and more than worth the €5 entrance fee.

We stopped for a relaxed spot of lunch, no one was chasing us, and then on to Tyne Cot…

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Some parts of the area have remained the same and others have changed.

In Langemark there is a memorial to the 20^th Light Division, the division in which my grandfather had served.

This was of course going to be on our list of places to visit.





Once the memorial stood in open fields but now resides in the middle of an area of housing.

Yorkshire Trench and Dugouts

This was supposed to be one of the trickier places to find but again with our POIs in the SatNav we left Langemark and arrived at the Yorkshire Trench site, situated on an industrial site, with no difficulty at all.

A small site but nevertheless impressive. Only the main trench itself is accessible but information boards explain about the dugout also situated on the site.







The day was drawing to a close and with weariness borne of emotion and thought, we headed back to Ieper to once again attend the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin gate.

To be continued….

We Will Remember Them

To quote Wikipedia:

“The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves are unknown.”

It seems they ran out of room to inscribe all the names on the gate so some of the remaining names (about 34000) are on the walls at the Tyne Cot Memorial.

The ceremony itself has been performed every day since 1928 (except during the occupation in the Second World War).

We stayed in Ieper for two nights and attended the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate both nights.

Friday 3rd May 2013

After enjoying a relaxing and satisfying meal on the first night we made our way to the Menin Gate.

It was about 19:30 when we arrived and people had already started to gather for the ceremony. It seems if you want a front row view you need to get there early.


The crowds continued to gather on all four sides of the memorial. Ceremony officials were also milling around making sure everything was going to plan.


A little before 20:00 the buglers began to appear.




They then prepared to get into position.




Silence descends over the memorial and the ceremony begins.



When they had finished, the extract from Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen”, often used in acts of remembrance,  was recited by someone (a visitor or guest of some kind):

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.”

After which a silence was observed.

Now the people who had come to lay wreaths marched across the gate one group at a time until finally the ceremony was over and the crowds dispersed.

Finally the buglers play out.

It was difficult not to be moved by the whole ceremony and as we returned back through the city to our hotel the thought of the thousands of lives lost remained at the forefront of my mind.

Saturday 4th May 2013

The day had been spent around the local area seeing places including Tyne Cot and Passchendaele. We got back to the city in good time and walked to the Ramparts Museum and then a gentle walk back to the Menin Gate for the Last Post Ceremony.

We arrived earlier this night intent on getting a clearer view and did so without trouble although the area quickly filled up around us.

This night was a little different. There were more people taking part including The Liverpool Clan Wallace Pipe Band and the Rochdale Festival Choir.

Approaching 20:00 things started with the Pipe band approaching finally taking up position at one end of the gate.




The buglers entered as normal taking up position at the opposite end of the gate and joined by a solo piper.




The laying of the wreaths was accompanied by the Rochdale Festival Choir.

After the ceremony itself was complete the pipe band again fired up, marching up and down the length of the gate.

Liverpool Clan Wallace Pipe Band.

Finally they marched back towards the main square in the city where they performed some more.






As for us? We went back to the hotel to marshal our resources for the following day. We would be leaving Flanders and heading into France to explore the Somme.

To be continued...

A Perfect Day

We could not have picked a better weekend if we had tried. The sun was shining and the forecast was for more of the same.

Leaving from Birmingham Airport we would be flying into Brussels and from there hiring a car beginning our journey to Flanders Fields.

The Road to Wipers

Ok, the place is actually called Ieper but the British troops nicknamed the city Wipers and it was also referred to by the French name Ypres.

We had fine weather and our initial journey was marred only by a navigational dispute resulting in a road-work barrier jumping out at us, surgically removing one of our wing mirrors. We laughed about this later.

In a state of shock we fell back on the itinerary which had us visiting the Hooge Crater Museum for a cup of tea and a snack.

Back on the road and taking the correct exit on the Hellfire Corner roundabout we parked up easily and were soon sitting down to a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a refreshing cup of tea.

A recurring theme at many of the café/museums would be artillery and flags, Hooge was no different.

Onwards

We were a little behind schedule, as if that really mattered. The sun was shining and fully refreshed we set off into the city of Ieper to find our hotel and check-in.

This was the first time I had driven on the wrong side of the road. The motorway from Brussels had been easy enough but now we were navigating the normal roads. My kerb-on-the-right hat was firmly in place. The only real problem I found was changing gear with my right hand. Perhaps paying that little bit extra for an automatic might have been more prudent.

But I digress.

The address successfully entered into the satnav we set off. Unfortunately the route “she” wanted to take us on was blocked, but as is the beauty of satnavs we set off in another direction and after the initial protests of “turn around when possible” we were directed to our hotel.

The road was lined with parked cars but we spotted a small space and spent a good few minutes reversing in (I expect an embarrassing YouTube video to be posted by an amused observer).

The next question of course. Could we park there? As luck would have it we had parked right outside our hotel. We nipped in with our bags and asked the lady on reception about the parking. She came out and suggested reversing a little more away from an opening, even standing there to guide me back.

Did we have to pay? Guided again, yes, there was a machine further up the street. Of course everything was in Flemish (I can only read Flemish menus) so I threw in what seemed to the maximum amount and got a ticket. Valid until 09:30 the next morning. Perfect!

Into the hotel, check-in, throw our bags into the room and set off into the city to dive back into our itinerary.

The Cloth Hall

The original Cloth Hall was destroyed by artillery fire during World War One, it lay in ruins. That it was reconstructed after the war to its pre-war condition I find remarkable.




Today it houses the In Flanders Fields Museum, the next destination on our itinerary.




We got there just in time slipping in before the last entry.

€9 each and our wrist bands were handed over (€1 upon return). These provided access into the museum and also activated various displays to give you a more personal experience.



There were lots of interesting displays with information, artefacts and reconstructions. The setting added to the experience, notice the arches in the background of the picture below.




One of the displays I found most interesting was the cross-section of tree showing the period of war.



We exit the museum into the sunny evening, quietly absorbing what we have just seen.

Steak and chips (not quite phrased like that) follow before heading over to the Menin Gate for the Last Post ceremony.

Our first day draws to a most satisfactory conclusion.

To be continued…