Summer 2010 - Belgium - Flanders

One of the main reasons for going to Belgium was to do a pilgrimage to Messines Ridge where an uncle of mine was killed on 8th June 1917.  I had often heard my father talk of Herbert although he (my father ) would not have known his eldest brother as he was only about 3 years old when Herbert went off to WW1. 

We took the train from Brugge to Ieper (Ypres in French or Wipers as the town was called by the Tommies). Brussels is too far away for a day visit.

The Cloth Hall, Ieper

 The Cloth Hall was almost completely destroyed in WW1 but has been lovingly rebuilt and houses one of many museums in Belgium. (I didn't know until our visit that about 130,000 Chinese labourers were sent to the front by the British army to carry supplies and dig trenches.)

In this museum we found this poem, in a very prominent display:

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

An important part of Anzac Day in New Zealand and Australia.

Next stop was the small town of Mesen (Messines). This is where the New Zealand Division was heavily involved in the battle which commenced on 7 June 1917.




The advance occurred up these slopes.

The day started off in light misty rain hence the rather poor light in the upper part of the photo. (A good case for a soft graduated filter to improved such shots.) Just behind this photo are the remains of several German bunkers taken by the New Zealanders. Some where around here my uncle became a casualty - missing believed killed.



The New Zealand Memorial at Messines Ridge.
Erected on the point of the New Zealanders' furthest advance.

At the other end of Mesen we found the Messines Ridge Cemetery. As we arrived here the skies cleared as you can see in the following photo.



Entrance to the Messines Ridge Cemetery

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has an extensive list of war casualties and cemeteries. This was how we discovered where my uncle's name is on the memorial here at the entrance to cemetery. Although this cemetery is a mainly a British one, the mound topped by the cross at the entrance has the names of all the New Zealanders killed during the Messines Ridge battle and who have no known grave.



Time to pay respects.



I wonder if ................?



Lest we forget