“Lest We Forget”
After a hot sultry day the cooling evening breeze gave relief as we walked through Ypres towards the Menin gate. The magnificent Cloth Hall towered above the busy square where people laughed, joked and enjoyed their evening meals in the cafes and bars of the city.
The glorious cathedral stood proudly, dominating the city; it looked as though it had always been there but just over 100 years ago the impressive city had been reduced to rubble.
Three Battles had devastated Ypres so that when 700,000 British troops walked through the Menenpoort in 1917 little remained of the proud medieval city. There was no great arch towering over their heads as they marched through the old city gate, moving in columns along a desolate road that meandered its way through the rubble towards the beleaguered town of Menen and the enemy. The photos from the time show cheerful faces leaving the ruined city, men with hope in their hearts that this battle would be the last and that they would be home soon.
Today the modern gate with its proud lions, it’s impressive arches takes us back to that time for on it are carved the names of over 70,000 soldiers who had taken that lonely road but who were never found after the third battle of Passchendaele. For these men and their families the only memorial they have the names carved on the fine stone pillars of the gate, a memorial to the bravery and to their sacrifice.
In 1928 when Ypres was restored to its former glory the present gate was built. It became a memorial to the men who had lost their lives to help release the country from the tyrants grip. Each evening at 8:00pm on the dot the Last Post would be played under the magnificent arches; its song echoing around the pillars touching all the inscribed names telling them it was time to rest.
The ceremony became known through all of Belgium and France and soon the whole world. People gathered at the gate to show their thanks, their appreciation and to acknowledge their debt. The bugler called all to attention as the city gave thanks.
Often wreaths of bright red poppies are laid; all with messages saying the same – in remembrance and lest we forget. After the buglers end their plaintiff piece come the words “At the going down of the Sun and in the morning we will remember them”. The crowd gathered under the gate stand silent with heads bowed.
On the 30th of August this year three members representing our u3a, had the privilege of taking part in the Last Post ceremony. Edith Ferguson, George and Susan Vose laid a wreath from all of us. They stood tall and proud and marched with a silent dignity that reached out to all of us and gave our thanks to the fallen. For Edith this was the culmination of a quest as Edith had lost eight relatives in the Great War. Some were remembered on the strong pillars of the Menin Gate.
This was a most fitting end to our pilgrimage to the battlefields of the Somme and Passchendaele and we were proud to have been part of this memorial service