Ypres Salient Addendum

Copyright © noel.moore@gmail.com All comments and questions are welcome.

We also located the head stone of a relative of Gordon, A.H.Hitchcock buried in the Tyne Cot Cemetery (top left).

The central monument with the tall cross (Top, left of tree in the collage pix) is built over a concrete blockhouse captured by Australians. Two other large and uncovered blockhouses are within the grounds (foreground of same pix).

The Picture at the bottom of the collage is a general view over Tyne Cot, which is the largest cemetery maintained by the Commonwealth Wargraves Commission.

 

There are many interesting twists and turns in the story of the Ypres Salient. Firstly, both Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler served in the area.

The steel spikes used to secure barbed wire by each side are similar. The British one has a curl at the top (top left), the German a spike. Both were manufactured in Sweden who traded with both sides.

The symbol of the poppy is everywhere, even on this chocolate biscuit.

 

 

 

 

There are many names listed in the area, and one particularly resonated for me; Edgar Noel Moore. He has an interesting story: ".. obtained a degree from Exeter College, Oxford in 1911 and was ordained in 1913. He originally worked in Bethnal Green, and then joined the YMCA as a Reverend, and was sent to Ypres. A Chaplain - Forces (4th class), he was attached to the 20th (Service) Battalion (4th City) King's Liverpool Regiment. He won the MC on 31 July 1917 tending to the wounded, and he was killed in action on 5 January 1918, aged 29. His unit suffered a direct hit though he survived and went to the aid of his wounded comrades, and was then killed. He is buried at Railway Dugouts Cemetery, Zillebeke, Ypres, and is commemorated on the Bethnal Green War Memorial."

The tower in the pix to the right, above is the Irish Memorial (aka "Irish Peace Park"). Our local guide thought that there was some Irish logic to it being placed in the ANZAC Sector rather than where the Irish fought. "The view is better," he said. It commemorates, among other things, that in WW1 Catholic and Protestant Irish troops served side by side. It is also noteworthy in its opening on 11th November 1998 by the President of Ireland Mary McAleese, in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II (the first time the 2 heads of state had jointly attended an event) and King Albert II of Belgium.

On the slabs along the path are quotes from various solder's diaries! A challenging blend of the idealistic, despairing, longing, and pathetic!

"So here, while the mad guns curse overhead, and tired men sigh, with mud for couch and floor, know that we fools, now with the foolish dead, died not for Flag, nor King, nor Emperor, but for a dream born in a herdsman’s shed, and for the sacred scripture of the poor."

I saw this inscription again on a public monument in Waterford from whence the author hailed!

*****

This is the official photographer's photo of us at the Last Post Ceremony.