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| The Menin Gate |
The sun was shining, although the wind was blowing and it
was a rather cold walk into Gravelines this morning to have a look around. This is a very old fortified town dating from
the 12th century is surrounded by a tidal moat. Enjoyed a wander
around the centre although everything was very quiet and hardly a shop open.
Todays drive took us north to Dunkirk and the roads were
extremely busy with many trucks travelling to the port. The countryside is flat,
and starting to see large barns with dairy herds. As we crossed the border into
Belgium the temperature was showing 4 degrees around midday. There has been a
real cold snap pass through Europe but thankfully we are not in an area that is
getting snow!
Had found a campground in Ypres (which is now called Leper)
walking distance from the Menin Gate Memorial and the centre of town, Jilly had
us there without any issues. Checked in, had lunch then set off on foot to see
where everything was. It took us just over 10 minutes to walk to the Menin Gate
which is dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in
the Ypres Salient during WW1. It marks the starting point for one of the main
roads out of the town that led Allied soldiers to the Front Line. Since the 11th
November 1928 the Last Post has been played here every evening at 8pm, rain,
hail or snow. I was quite overwhelmed to see the names of over 50,000 soldiers
whose graves are unknown. No New Zealander’s are listed here and according to a
plaque there are memorials for them at Tyne Cot and other surrounding cemetries.
Ypres is a really nice town and the streets were very busy,
everyone is rugged up with coats, hats and scarves for the first taste of
winter. Shop doors are all shut to keep the heat in. Enjoyed window shopping,
no point buying anything for winter, we will be home to summer shortly! Back to
the van and put our feet up for a few hours, and having a bit of dinner before
rugging up well and walking down to the evening service.
…..It’s 9pm and we are just having a wee drink and feeling a
bit emotional after an extremely moving evening at the Menin Gate. We arrived
at 20 past 7 and surprised to find that the area behind the barriers was
already packed with people, found a position but weren’t quite sure where the
best spot would be (and as it turned out we would have been better at the other
end!). At 7.30 the police closed the road to traffic and the crowd kept
building. We heard that they are expecting 50,000 in town for the 11 November
Commemoration weekend.
The buglers, seven men from the Fire Brigade, started the
service off at 8pm with a few short notes then we were treated to a short
performance by an English choir. The Last Post followed and as always it was
spine tingling but being in the memorial with all the thousands of names of
soldiers who had lost their lives on the walls really made the eyes misty.
Groups of people laid wreathes, another bugle call was played before the
service finished 15 minutes later. An evening that I will never forget.
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| This mornings view...the tide was out and the boats high and dry. |
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| War memorial Gravelines |
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| A rather large load of carrots |
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| Team effort in Ypres dealing with autumn leaves. |
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| Names line the walls at the Menin gate memorial. |
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Looking down on the town which was flattened during the
war and has been rebuilt. |
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| The "viewing Wheel" looked a little out of place. |
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| Shop window reflections. |
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| Tonight's service |
Comments
On my last visit only 3 burglars turned up on time. A 4th came running down the street just as it began. I do admire their dedication to the ceremony. It can get over crowded and I have seen a marked change over the last 4 years or so.
Hi Alan, didn’t realise you come each year. The world would have been quite a different place without all these soldiers who lost their lives. We wondered how many buglers turned up each night, it really is a huge commitment by the Fire Brigade. I think we were fortunate that the crowd was not to big last night. There were 5 buses unloading people including the choir.