Tag Archives: Passchendaele
Too Young To Fight?
When we visited the Commonwealth Military Cemetery at Essex Farm, near Ypres, Belgium, our guide pointed out the grave of V.J. Strudwick, who was killed in action January 14, 1916 at age 15. The official age to enlist was 18, for overseas service 19. Recruiters though generally didn`t ask probing questions, and identification documents were […]
The Last Post
Tonight at 8, for the 29,758th time, the Last Post, the traditional salute to fallen warriors, will be played at the Menin gate in Ypres. It’s been a nightly ritual since 1928. Volunteers from the Last Post Association (and sometimes hundreds, even thousands of others) gather each evening to honour the British Empire dead of […]
In the Trenches of Passchendaele
The years between 1914 and 1918 were the wettest Europe experienced during the 20th century, or so I have been told. Those years coincided with the trench warfare in France and Belgium, literally millions of soldiers facing each other from trenches they had dug a few metres from each other. With the bad weather, to […]
Tyne Cot Cemetery
On the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website there is a warning: SCHOOL GROUPS: TEACHERS – PLEASE CLOSELY SUPERVISE YOUR STUDENTS, PARTICULARLY AT THE TYNE COT CEMETERY CROSS OF SACRIFICE. I presume the all caps are to emphasize the importance of the message. I’m not sure what exactly is meant by “supervise closely.” When we visited […]
The Brooding Soldier
One of the highlights of the Belgian leg of our tour of Europe was the Brooding Soldier at St. Julien. After Vimy Ridge this may be the biggest, best known, Canadian war memorial in Europe. It is a poignant site, a soldier with head bowed, grieving for his lost comrades. The memorial is located at […]
Answering The Call
The wall is full of plaques, almost as if there is not a spare inch of space left. St. George’s Memorial Church is an English speaking Anglican establishment in Flemish Iepers (that’s Ypres to us Canadians). The church, built after the First World War for those Anglophones working in the area, was funded entirely by […]
Keeping Score in the War That Never Ends
A century later, it haunts them still. The last Canadian veteran of the First World War died in 2010, and I would imagine that is pretty much the case in most countries. The generation that fought and survived the bloody battles in France and Belgium from 1914-18 has now passed into the history books. But […]
Remembering The Dead
It is a solemn place and a stark reminder that there were no winners in the First World War. Langemark Cemetery is a memorial to young men who fought and died for a cause they believed in. But there are no rows of white headstones here. Instead the markers are black, set into the earth. […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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