- Time of past OR future Camino
- Yearly and Various 2014-2019
Via Monastica 2022
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Thank you for this - I too was at Ypres recently after paying my respects to my uncles Frank (Dozingham cemetery) and John (Ploegsteert memorial, no grave) and look forward to a revisit to do some walking in the area.I was recently in Ypres (Iepers), and learned from waymarkings of this walk along the whole of the WW1 Western Front, from Switzerland up to Belgium.
EUROPEAN HIKE & BIKE TRAILS - Western Front Way
The Western Front Way offers app-led European hike & bike trails along WWI Front Lines. See app for more details...thewesternfrontway.com
Remembrance Day today. In these perilous times, it is important we remember the realities of conflict - and this walk would be a prolonged opportunity to do that.
Here's another link to a recent book about it by Anthony Seldon:
The Path of Peace by Anthony Seldon review – a trail of painful history
The writer’s vivid account of walking the Western Front Way illuminates the traumas of the first world war while reassessing his own tumultuous lifewww.theguardian.com
I was pleased to see their sacrifice wasn't forgotten after the war and that some of their names marked up on the Menin Gate - they came a long way and sadly died without a trace. Over a million Indian volunteers in the European theatre alone.We have a large Sikh community in this region but till recently I did not know about their important role in WWI.
Sikhs In World War I - Gateway To Sikhism
Lions of the Great War With the outbreak of war in Europe, India, the Crown Jewel of the British Empire, joined the Allies in battle on the 4th of Auwww.allaboutsikhs.com
Indeed.I was pleased to see their sacrifice wasn't forgotten after the war and that some of their names marked up on the Menin Gate
My feeling too.the sheer numbers you pass on your way to Rome is a bit of a shock if you have never been to the area.
Yes, I am certain there are visitors today at the cemetery due to the holiday, but in late summer of 2001, we were the only visitors at the American Meuse-Argonne cemetary. The visitors book held only a few other names for that time...
The band Motörhead had a song called 1916.I know some people might not like Heavy Metal music but this is a very somber song sung by Lemmy.
This is very touching. I was there last week, and there were some flowers. I'm sure there will be more today. The most sobering thing there was seeing this lineThe Margraten cemetery near Dutch Maastricht even has a waitinglist for new adoption volunteers.Under the young generation there is a great enthusiasm to participate.
engraved on the memorial wall. Two decimated generations, one passing a torch to the other.To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
There's just one village in the whole of France that doesn't have a memorial to its dead and that's Thierville on Upper Normandy for the simple reason that none of its sons or daughters died in the Franco-Prussian, First or Second World Wars - they all came home.Even on other routes in France (Podiensis and Gebenensis for example), as you walk through every small town, past every village church, there is a memorial to the war dead, with every name. Always, always, the list of names from WWI is long, far too long for such a small village.
This is very touching. I was there last week, and there were some flowers. I'm sure there will be more today. The most sobering thing there was seeing this line
engraved on the memorial wall. Two decimated generations, one passing a torch to the other.
View attachment 136744
The town has a unique place in the remembrance of WW1. The Menin Gate is closed every night while local volunteers play the Last Post. Something that has been done every night since 1928 apart from the days during WW2 when German forces occupied the town. I was there for the ceremony one night with my children. A powerfully moving experience.Coverage from today in Ieper/ Ypres. Videofootage of almost 2 minutes.
Isn't it just? I was amazed at the crowd of mainly Belgians who attended when we were there.The town has a unique place in the remembrance of WW1. The Menin Gate is closed every night while local volunteers play the Last Post. Something that has been done every night since 1928 apart from the days during WW2 when German forces occupied the town. I was there for the ceremony one night with my children. A powerfully moving experience.
Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, Ieper - Ypres, Belgium
About the Last Post ceremony which takes place every evening at 8 o'clock at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ieper - Ypres in Belgium.www.greatwar.co.uk
It is politicians that instruct old generals to send young men out to butcher one another. A wiser man that I, sadly gone now, once said of the European Union. Anything that can prevent young European men from having to butcher each other every forty or fifty years can only be a good thing.I also when I see the poppies on the Camino think of this poem that I learnt as a child. and sometimes I nearly cry. Yesterday by chance we watched a film 'All Quite on the Western Front'. The central characters were young German soldiers. It brought so alive to me the horrors of war and I thought of those on both sides at present in Ukraine. Some of my mothers cousins were just 'cannon fodder' in world war one. How important it is to work for peace and not let old generals send young people out to fight.
That haka...so powerfully moving.From some years ago. What a moving tribute.
Summer 2015. Walking towards Rome along a French canal towpath on a day when I'd already passed several military cemeteries. I sat on a low concrete wall to rest in the shade for a few minutes. As I looked down at my feet I spotted this in the gravel between my boots. Sometimes history just reaches out and finds you.There are many memorials that scarcely catch the eye
Wow. You stopped where you stopped, and voila. Good - one that never reached its target. A somber reminder of how many did.Sometimes history just reaches out and finds you.
Thanks for that. An incredible story of sacrifice by an animal. Horses died in their hundreds of thousands in The Great War and must have been terrified during the barrages.There's just one village in the whole of France that doesn't have a memorial to its dead and that's Thierville on Upper Normandy for the simple reason that none of its sons or daughters died in the Franco-Prussian, First or Second World Wars - they all came home.
In the UK we call these "Thankful" or "Blessed" villages and there just over 50 in England and Wales - none in Scotland or Ireland.
One, Knowlton, is not far from where I live in Kent.
On a lighter note, I once worked with a horticulturalist who had been employed by our Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was responsible for our cemeteries from Normandy through to the Dutch-Belgian frontier. His workforce were French and they moved from site to site rather than being at a fixed location.
One of his gardeners was always accompanied by his pet dog until, sadly, on one trip the dog died.
The team decided the best thing would be to bury the pet where they were and discretely buried it outside the hedgerow surrounding a cemetery in the Normandy landing zone.
A few months later they were back and working away when one of the gardeners approached him.
"M'sieur Nick, M'sieur Nick, those people over there are asking where the dog is buried!"
Nick said he had visions of his job and his pension disappearing but went to speak with them, an English family.
"Where is the dog buried?"
"Dog? There's no dog buried here."
"Oh yes," they said, "he landed on D-Day and was killed with his master and they are buried together."
The paratrooper, who was only 19, and his dog had jumped over Normandy on D-Day and had died side by side.
The trooper's name is Emile Corteil and his dog Glen. They are buried at Ranville Commonwealth War Cemetery
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The inscription reads:
HAD YOU KNOWN OUR BOY
YOU WOULD HAVE LOVED HIM TOO.
"GLEN" HIS PARATROOP DOG
WAS KILLED WITH HIM
Slaughter of the innocents. Who had no choice nor any idea of what or why. Terrible.An incredible story of sacrifice by an animal.
A few weeks ago the English folk musician and singer Paul Sartin died suddenly at the age of 51. Probably best known as a member of Bellowhead but also as half of Belshazzar's Feast alongside the accordionist Paul Hutchinson. They recorded this song which recalls the partnership of men and horses lost in the First World War. Always an emotive piece for me but doubly so now.Thanks for that. An incredible story of sacrifice by an animal. Horses died in their hundreds of thousands in The Great War and must have been terrified during the barrages.
Many we never forget.
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Here in France on the Marne river my husband and I attended la cérémonie de commémoration du 104e anniversaire de l'Armistice de 1918 the morning service of commemoration when the Mayor and veterans laid gerbes of flowers at the foot of the war memorial.
At exactly 11am on this 11th day of the 11th month there was a moment of silence marking the moment when WW1 ended.
So sad, so true. In Paris there is an island dedicated to animal graves. The cemetery is formal and lovingly maintained. There rests a faithful dog named Memere, born in 1914 and beloved by the Chasseurs a Pied. The tomb depicts such a sweet moment of friendship during the hell of war, it makes a heart break.Slaughter of the innocents. Who had no choice nor any idea of what or why. Terrible.
I often think we in Europe should learn Haka. There are situations when a minute of silence seems so wrong and not enough.This Haka is the one I grieve with the most...https://youtu.be/xI6TRTBZUMM
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