"In Flanders Fields", part 2

In Ypres, a memorial to many of the fallen Allied soldiers whose bodies were never found, guards one entrance to the town. The Menin Gate lists the names of nearly 55,000 soldiers whose bodies were never found. What is staggering, is that all of those who died after the 15th of August, 1917 are listed elsewhere, because the gate is too small. About 35,000 are listed at the Tyne Cot Cemetery pictured in the previous post, and all of those from New Zealand and Newfoundland have individual memorials.

Menin Gate at Ypres

 

"Served as" means this soldier lied in order to enlist.

Museum pieces...

 

Yes, the Germans really wore helmets with pointy tops.

There are few trenches remaining in Flanders. When the war ended, the Belgians filled them in and tried, as best they could, to return the battlefields to their pre-war condition of mostly farms and small towns.

This trench was rediscovered in a business park and refurbished.

 

The 'sandbags' are actually cement in this reconstruction.

There is a cemetery and the remains of a field hospital where "In Flanders Fields" was written and where the author worked for a period of time during the war. Lt. Col. John McCrae became ill later in the war and died in early 1918. He wrote the poem from the view of a soldier, even though he was a doctor.

Field hospital

 

Grave of a 15-year old soldier

John McCrae & "In Flanders Fields" memorial

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.

                                                   --  Lt. Col. John McCrae