11/11 Armistice or Remembrance Day
Exploring history and remembrance at WWI sites in Belgium
This summer I traveled to Belgium, and although my focus was on exploring the cities, I also explored WW1 battlefields, museums, cemeteries, and trenches. Since today is Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, I will share some photos and numbers — for all of us not to forget.
The Town of Ypres
The town of Ypres (or Ieper in Flemish) is synonymous with World War I history. Its medieval trading hub was nearly destroyed during the war, as it became a key strategic location on the Western Front. The town’s name will also always be remembered in the name of Yperite, the mustard gas first used in World War I by the German army against British and Canadian soldiers near Ypres, on July 12, 1917.
One of the most famous sites here is the Menin Gate Memorial. Every evening at 8 PM, a haunting Last Post ceremony is performed under the archway, honoring 54,395 Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives here and have no known graves. The ceremony has taken place every day since 1928 (!). Inside the archway, there is the inscription proposed by Rudyard Kipling: “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” / To the greater glory of God. – Here are recorded names of officers and men who fell in Ypres Salient, but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death”.
This is not the best video, but is the only one I have - I arrived too late on a Saturday and there were already so many visitors, I could barely see anything. There were visitors from Belfast, UK laying down wreaths. Overall, an extremely impressive event, and the fact that it’s been held daily for almost 100 years is just mind-blowing.