In Flanders Fields

A recent trip to Ypres and the surrounding region to mark the 100th anniversary of The Great War.
 Ypres is indeed a beautiful city - completely savaged during the war, and subsequently faithfully rebuilt.

The Cloth Hall

The Mennin Gate hosts the Last Post ceremony every evening at 8pm.  In recent years many people come to repay their respects.

Tyne Cot Cemetery is the largest in Flanders. 

Shells appear from the countryside on a regular basis as farmers tend their fields - many are displayed in Passchendaele Museum

Passchendaele defined the newly developing Canada - Hill 62 is where Canada suffered terrible losses.  The Maple Tree surrounds the memorial.  In the first shot - Ypres can be seen in the distance.

44000 Germans are buried, along with two British at Langemark cemetery.  A stark contrast to the British & Commonwealth Cemeteries.  Hitler visited here during the build up to WWII.

Hitler was treated in the crypt of Messines cathedral - all that survives of the original cathedral - as a runner during WWI.

Berkshire Cemetery Extension was a wonderful place to visit.  Sadly, the resting place of two brothers who joined up on the same day, to the same regiment, and died on the same day.

Sanitized by peace time, the excavated trenches gave a hint of life on the front.

I was lucky - my Grandfather returned from the Great War and started his family, unlike so, so many of his fellow soldiers.

Some of the group payed tribute to their loved ones who didn't come home, and it was a privileged to share that moment with George as he asked for the moment to be recorded.