Ypres/Ieper, Menin Gate and the Last Post...no you’re not that lucky
This morning we are once again border hopping and heading back into Belgium for the day. First stop will be in Poperinge to visit Talbot House, which I will talk about more in a bit. When Salvatore, our Italian bus driver drops us off just outside of the city square, we walk down one of the side streets to get to the square and the weekend market is set up. I am so happy they get to see and smell the European lifestyle. Fresh bread, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, local wares are all here and the square is full with people of all ages walking around, some sitting around enjoying the 24C weather drinking their morning coffee. It is so awesome and a treat for them, because we are scheduled to miss the Ieper weekend market in that town and it is 4 times the size of this one, but still a great part of their lifestyle that I was so excited for the kids to see.
As the time nears for our visit to Talbot House, we learn about its role during the battles of the First World War. Talbot House is located in the town of Poperinge, located just outside the front lines of the Ypres Salient in Belgium. This area of Belgium was an area that underwent indescribable destruction and hardship over the 4 years of 1914-1918. The region might be more well known versus the name of the major city that it's named after, Ypres or Ieper. These towns are located in the Flanders Region, many people think of Flanders as a singular field, but in fact it is a region where long and intense fighting took place for the entirety of the Great War.
The following is said about Talbot House upon entering,
“A home from home. A second home.
A beacon of peace for soldiers during the First World War.
A refuge from the atrocities.
A chance to escape reality. A peaceful, safe haven full of stories. A house where everyone is equal, without distinction of rank or status.
An authentic British soldier's club. An Every Man's Club where everyone is welcome. A community. Then and now.”
If you can imagine a society with different classes and levels and then multiply it by 100 during the early 1900s and then double it again with military rankings involved you will understand what it was like during WWI. Some very interesting quotes are found throughout the house that still detailed some important distinctions of classes even in Talbot House. As a gentlemen’s club, your mind can start to wonder what took place with these gents while on leave, but this was a dry house....tea only totally, and a few of the kids had the tea while there. Yes this was for “teetotallers” only. This club was for respite with books, lounges, rooms with bedding very different from the tunnels we saw the day before at Zonnebeke and Vimy. The attic of the house was a chapel where men would gather before heading back to the front, many were baptized here or received their first communion, knowing they may never return here or home. They told stories of non-believers who converted knowing that these days would soon be their last and they wanted to look for something to have faith in. It was a very powerful presentation that told the stories of young men living during these times, but really only surviving. We live freely, we can make choices, we can enjoy our daily lives for the most, these guys were just trying to get from minute to minute and day to day.
After we leave Poperinge, we head down the road to quite possibly my single most favorite city in Europe, Ieper or in the Canadian history books, Ypres(Wipers was how i pronounced it in grade 7). The kids will visit Flanders Fields museum and then onto some free time in the square, which is home to some of the best eateries, Belgian chocolate shops, waffle shops and ice cream, all some of the best tastes and smells in the world.
In all honesty, we would need about 3-4 hours to really give the museum a good going over. We have it but the thought of some free shopping time after 60-75 minutes in the museum is too tempting for them. We do have more plans this afternoon and we need them to grab a lunch and buy chocolates for all of you at home...no promises it makes it back and that is not a shot at Air Canada, although at this point I should send them a few.....Seamus how is my credit card making out for you????
He fought and died in the Ypres area in 1916 and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial because his body was never found and therefore has no known grave. Thank you for your service Corporal Allan and may you rest in peace, I am proud to know that you are from PEI. More on the Menin Gate in a bit from myself and Brianna MacArthur.
After the museum the kids are free for lunch and snacks for a couple of hours. This square is large, contained and safe. The center of the city is a large medieval square with shops around the outside for shopping and eating as I mentioned before. After a couple of hours of eating Belgian chocolate and ice cream we reconvene for a trip to Tyne Cot Cemetery and St. Julien and the Belgian memorial to Canadians.
Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of World War I in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war. The cemetery and its surrounding memorial are located outside Passendale, near Zonnebeke in Belgium.(Wikipedia) After being at Zonnebeke yesterday and learning about the hell that Passendale was, we felt it was important to put those numbers discussed into better perspective for the kids. As like the other cemeteries, these kids are amazing, and let me tell you there were other schools there, not from Canada, and ours are truly amazing ambassadors of respect and reverence for the fallen.
The Menin Gate Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town of Ypres (now Ieper) in the Province of West Flanders, on the road to Menin and Courtrai. It bears the names of 55,000 men who were lost without trace during the defense of the Ypres Salient in the First World War. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and erected by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, it consists of a Hall of Memory", 36.6 metres long by 20.1 metres wide. In the centre are broad staircases leading to the ramparts which overlook the moat, and to pillared loggias which run the whole length of the structure. On the inner walls of the Hall, on the side of the staircases and on the walls of the loggias, panels of Portland stone bear the names of the dead, inscribed by regiment and corps.
The memorial itself is striking and unique, but what is more unique is that each night prior to 8:00 PM, since the dedication of the monument in the late 1920s the gate, which is an entrance to the town square, closes down for a traditional Remembrance ceremony. Yes every night, 365 days a year, only for a short time during the German occupation of WWII, where the townsfolk did it in hiding and also officially in London. They have certainly not forgotten and being here is truly an honor. I’ve been lucky enough to have attended this very ceremony about 13-14 times, 9 times with student groups and then during my own PD tour 20 years ago, we stayed in the town for 4 days and attended every night. I’ll leave the rest of the story to student Brianna MacArthur:
“The gate was full of people of all ages, both from the local town and all over the world. When I first arrived at the gate, I saw the names of all the soldiers on the wall, men who were never laid to rest and live on only in the memories of those who knew them, but I could feel that their memory was preserved in this gate and ceremony where the only part of them that we truly have are their names. Soon, if not already, that may be all that anyone remembers of them. But here that doesn't matter. Here, they are all honored equally as they deserve to be. Not for their memories or their rank, but for their unwavering courage and bravery in a time when hope and light would have become just another part of their memories of their homes which they left behind in a distant land never to return. In this gate and ceremony, their memory lives forevermore.
The ceremony opened with bagpipes and a performance of the last post inside the gate. Following that, a choir sang a beautiful rendition of "Nearer My God To Thee," which was followed by a hymn being sung as wreaths and mementos were laid at the gate. The conclusion of the ceremony consisted of the trumpeter performing the call to attention before the crowd then dispersed.
The process was a very sobering experience that I will never forget. It is important to remember that all gave some, but some gave all. They are not here to tell their stories and for that it is our duty to carry their memory in our hearts, the memory of these young men who died before they could live, men whose bodies were never found, men whose spirits and memories will live on until the end of time. Though they no longer walk among us, they will live forever in the freedoms that their sacrifice has given us.”
Brianna MacArthur
Thank you Brianna, that was beautiful and I feel the exact same way!! Nuff said!!! Good night. Good morning or Good Evening...whichever it is for you...for us, We are now in the Netherlands!!!!!
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