Join Us For The Journey

This year, the centennial of the start of the "Great War", we will be traveling to some of the major battlefields of the Western Front. Starting in Belgium, we will examine many of the most vexing areas of conflict for the French and British military powers; legendary battle sites such as Ypres, Passchendaele, Messines and Poelcapelle.

Later we will move into Northern France to the area around the Somme, Verdun and Meuse-Argonne.

Join us for this 10 day journey into the past.

Day One: We land in Brussels and, after finding our rental, we head out for the Royal Military Museum in the center of town.
Things have been upgraded since we visited this facility some 20 years ago and the 1914/1918 section of the Museum has been expanded to a whole wing, complete with many original dioramas, photos, exhibits and artifacts. In my opinion, a truly world-class Museum. The aviation section by contrast was much the same as 20 years ago and the tank display has been decimated.
We moved onto Waterloo but declined to climb the Lion's Butte due to the exorbitant entry fee.
Last stop was Mons where the British Expeditionary Force first clashed with the invading Germany Armies in WWI.
Last stop and our hotel at the Hooghe Crater near Ypres/Ieper. Now for some sleep!!!!


Day Two: Incredible day today; but more of that later.
We started the morning at the Hooghe British Cemetery and moved on to the 5th Battalion Australian Memorial in Polygon Woods. Right next to the New Zealand Cemetery there's a small "farm" and the last time Judy and I visited this spot, we encountered a donkey, braying so loudly that it woke the neighborhood. Well today we found the same donkey and it came over to the fence to talk to me - as an old buddy! As I greeted it some other visitors to the area thought that I was speaking to them and some confusion reigned while we sorted out donkeys from men!
Now for the most exciting thing that happened to us - we, purely by chance (finger pointed at a restaurant in a tourist magazine) met the innkeeper who happens to be one, Johan Vanderwalle, the leader of an expedition of professionals that discovered 5 Australian WWI bodies buried near/under a local road on one of the battlefields in this area. 
Two of the bodies have been identified through DNA and the BBC has documented the discovery, particularly as one of the bodies had been wrapped in a poncho (rain slicker) issued to all British WWI forces. He had died in his brother's arms and his brother had buried him in the poncho, facing not towards the battle but faced towards his homeland. The surviving brother lived past the war and returned to Australia. He died in 1977, always knowing that his brother's body would be discovered one day. 
When the poncho was removed it was discovered that his body was preserved in a reasonably recognizable form and the eyeballs were still there. At the moment of the "unveiling", the sun shone into the eyeballs and Johan had taken a couple of photos of the sun shining in the dead man's eyes. Johan showed us the photos which are very eerie.
The body was identified and now lays buried in the same cemetery for the 5th Australian Battalion. 
Johan is raising money to develop a park to commemorate the two brothers, called "Brothers In Arms." 
Johan has also lead another team that discovered and explored one of the German mine-shafts in Messine Wood - the BBC documentary is called "The Big Dig".
It was such a privilege to meet such a hero of preserving and discovering the past - purely on the chance choice of Johan's restaurant.

Day Three: We visited the famous Sanctuary Wood/Hill 62 Museum this morning - the one with the very gruesome photos of the dead from the battlefield, both sides.
The owner must be a scavenger who ranges far and wide looking for WWI artifacts - this museum has a veritable plethora of old jetsam from all aspects of the war, not necessarily organized in any specific manner. The one photo below shows an old rusted/mud encrusted rotary engine with its cover off. I have not seen this aspect of a rotary engine before.
We then drove to Kemmel Hill where the French forces took incredible losses, with one Ossuary containing 5,234 unidentified French officers and men in a single grave.
Next stop Spanbroekmolen Crater left over from the tunneling and explosive activities of the British and Commonwealth forces along the Messines Ridge, under German lines. Today it doubles as the Peace Pool, a tranquil location close to Wijtschate City, even the cats are peaceful here.
Then on to Bayernwald where Adolph Hitler was situated in the early part of the was as a runner and where he earned his first Iron Cross for the Fatherland. the faithfully reconstructed trenches are covered in a wickerwork of twigs/branches and gang planks. Hitler returned to this site when he conquered Belgium in 1940.
The Canadian Memorial commemorates their fallen countrymen of the fateful 1917 3rd Ypres campaign, near Passchendaele.
We could not miss the Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony at Ypres City, a duty the Belgians have tasked themselves with every night, 365 days a year, since 1927. We arrived at about 6:26 pm, ready to have some supper before the 8 pm ceremony. The first Menin Gate photo was taken as we arrived, the second shows the crowd gathering at 7:13 pm and by the time 8 pm arrived there had to have been between 3,000 - 5,000 people crammed into the Gate. We were about 3 rows back, despite having been 47 minutes early - for a ceremony that has endured every night for the last 87 years!
Lastly we wandered the streets of Ypres/Ieper down by the restored Cloth hall in the Grand Plas and window shopped for a machine gun at the British Grenadier Bookshop.
Exhausted with all the day's activities we were in bed by 11 pm.

Day Four – We arrive at the Ireland Peace Park near Messines, erected by the good folk of the area. The tower must soar about 200 feet and it is a symbol of respect for the Irish who fought alongside the British in Belgium and France.The Park contains a number of plaques with some very poignant thoughts about the war, example “As it was, the Ypres battlefield just represented one gigantic slough of despond into which floundered Battalions, Brigades and Divisions of Infantry without end, to be shot to pieces or drowned, until at last and with immeasurable slaughter we had gained a few miles of liquid mud” Strong stuff that! We come across a small memorial to Bruce Bairnsfather who had been a Warwickshire Regimental machine gun officer in this area, dreaming up his “Old Bill” character who depicted the ordinary soldier’s misery and discomfit in trench life, most famously for the quote, to his disgruntled foxhole chum “If you knows of a better ‘ole, go to it!” while shells are bursting overhead. A few miles further on, in the small French village of , we run across a Sunday market in Peronne, France where we realize that one’s man’s (or one woman’s) junk is another's treasure, for we have never seen such rubbish peddled in the streets. Hope these good folk never read my critique of their market – maybe it’s because we could not get into nay restaurant in the town – all claiming to be fully reserved for the day - “Damn Americans, we shall not feed them, no matter how good their money is!” Vimy Ridge and the valiant Canadian Army effort to take the heights in 1917 is celebrated by one of the most awe-inspiring memorials in the area of northern France. Inscribed on the memorial are the names of almost 11,300 Canadians missing in action from this vast battlefield.
The last two images are from the Hyde Park Corner (Royal Berks) Cemetery. There are something like 4,000 military cemeteries under the Commonwealth War Graves Commission care, this is an example of how well they care for the fallen.


Day Five is a little bit of a personal crusade for me – we visit 2 cemeteries where I am able to place poppy crosses on 2 graves and one at a Memorial for the Missing for direct and indirect family cousins.
The first stop is at Dud Corner Cemetery & the Loos Memorial. The name “Dud Corner” originated from the large number of un-exploded shells found in the area when the land was cleared for the cemetery after the war. The cemetery contains 1,800 burials and the names of over 20,000 names on the Loos Memorial of officers and men who have no known burial place. The name of Pvt. Gerald Cowper, of Wick, Caithness in Scotland, appears on the wall. Pvt Cowper was killed on Sept 25, 1915 on the first day of the Battle of Loos – Gerald Crole Cowper is a 1st cousin 2 twice removed. His body was never recovered.
Next we stop by the St Mary’s Advanced Dressing Station where the disputed grave of Rudyard Kipling’s son, Lt. John Kipling lies. John was killed on Sept 27, 1915 on the 3rd day of the Battle of Loos and, according to the authors of the book about Kipling’s son “My Boy Jack”, the identified grave should be marked for Lt. Arthur Jacob in a case of mistaken identity of a body discovered in 1992. We then pass by the Zivy & Lichfield Cemeteries, mass burials of British soldiers in 2 mine craters.
The Ayette Indian and Chinese Cemetery was used for the final resting place for Chinese and Indian laborers brought in by the British to perform menial tasks in the field – many of these laborers being killed by the onslaught of war conditions to their working environment.
For some reason the Irish seem to like towers as memorials to their war efforts and we stumble across the Ulster Tower on our way to Thiepval.
The mighty and awe-inspiring Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the ill-fated Somme Battlefield is truly a sight to behold – unfortunately not as imaginative as the Canadian Vimy Ridge Memorial – stands with 72,000 names inscribed on its walls. On the first day of the Somme attack the British Army suffered close to 60,000 casualties, 20,000 of which total were men killed in action! On one day, the first day, against overwhelming German defenses and the terrible machine gun. Even the German forces were stunned at the extent of the wanton killing.
We move on to Mailly Wood cemetery where 2 of my distant cousins are buried, Pvt. James Steven (1st cousin, twice removed) and Sjt. Benjamin Mowat (more distant, related through marriage), both of Wick Scotland and both killed on November 13, 1916 on the opening day of the 3rd phase of the dreadful Somme Offensive. They were both part of the Seaforth Highlanders and both involved in the attack on the French hamlet of Beaumont-Hamel. 
It is remarkable that there are many fields and forests that are still off-limits to any humans because of un-exploded munitions from 100 years ago.

Day Five Part the Afternoon: We really did accomplish a lot today and now we’re into the afternoon.
We arrive at Newfoundland Park near Beaumont Hamel, the scene of terrible losses suffered by the Newfoundland forces during their offensive to take the German lines and the town of Beaumont Hamel on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1st 1916. The Newfoundland Regiment was part of the British 29th Division and they attacked in the second wave on July 1st, at about 9 am. Due to the congestion of the wounded and dead in the forward trench system, the Newfoundland troops were forced to “go over the top” from the second line support trenches and they were mown down by enemy machine gun fire, some even before reaching the British first line trench line. Others bunched up at exit points in the British barbed wire. All the German gunners had to do was focus their fire directly at these vulnerable points and they found the congregation of soldiers, trying to get through. Within half an hour the Regiment had taken a 90% casualty rate. Of the 780 men who went forward only about 110 survived unscathed, of whom only 68 were available for roll call the following day. The Dominion of Newfoundland purchased the 75 acres of property from the French Govt. in 1921 and preserved the Park and its environs as a tribute to the Regiment. The Caribou statue was erected as the symbol of Newfoundland (later incorporated into Canada). The park today incorporates several CWGC cemeteries and a memorial to the 51st Highland (Scottish) Division of which Pvt Steven and Sjt. Mowat were part of and lost their lives during the final gasp campaign of the Somme battle on November 13, 1916. 
The “Lone Tree” is a replica of the barren landmark from the historic battlefield. Near La Boiselle we arrived at the Lochnagar Crater, created when the British exploded 60,000 lbs of ammonal in a vast tunnel under German lines at 7:28 am on July 1st, 1916. The crater formed by the massive explosion is 300 feet across and over 70 feet deep. It is preserved today but erosion of the crater lip is severe, some 98 years on. It is not known how many German troops were atomized by the explosion but it was the largest man-made explosion in the world, up to that date. 
We stop at a couple of memorials, one from the Heart of Midlothian Football Club as some lead soldiers who went 'over the top' in July 1916 were issued soccer balls to dribble over No Man's Land to guide the rest of the men at a correct walking pace. The second shown is to a Victoria Cross soldier, Lt. Donald Bell. The memorial is called Bell's Redoubt.  
We stop by the Fricourt village German Cemetery where the German air ace, the Red Baron, Manfred von Richtofen, was originally buried before his brother arrived after the war (in 1925) to reclaim his body. The Red Baron is claimed to have downed 80 Allied planes between 1916 - 1918. Another German soldier's body, Sebastian Paustian, lies in the same grave location today.
In nearby Albert we see the Basilique Notre Dame de Brebieres and the Madonna and Child that was restored after it’s destruction in 1918. 
 In an early evening light we pass the memorial to tank operations from 1916 – 1918 and the Windmill Memorial at Pozieres.