France - Western Front

Today we returned to Fromelles to have a look around the battlefield and explore the Pheasant Wood cemetery which we didn’t get to see on the day of the dedication.

After a brief chat to one of the friendly ground staff at the new cemetery we were able to find the old Pheasant Wood site where the soldiers were originally buried in 4 mass graves. There was also a photo exhibition in the local church of photos from WW1 at Fromelles - these were a fabulous visual insight into what things looked like and the conditions in which the men were living. One of the most moving photos was a photo of crosses in an Australian cemetery with young French girls attending to the graves and laying fresh flowers.

One of the local men at the church also gave Jack some shrapnel when he realised he was Australian.  

We also made a coffee stop at the local cafe/pub in which we were warmly welcomed and there was one wall richly decorated in Australian memorabilia. 

After finishing in the village centre, we visited the ‘Cobbers’ Memorial which is a famous statue based on Sergeant Simon Fraser of the 57th Battalion, a farmer turned soldier, who rescued many men from the battlefield before being killed in the Battle of Bullecourt in 1917. The statue is Sgt Fraser carrying an injured soldier across his shoulders. The memorial lies in another Australian Memorial Park which also contains 2 German pillboxes which were from later battles. 

VC Corner is a unique cemetery on the Western Front as it has no headstones, but instead has a rose bush planted for each man buried there. The reason it has no headstones is because the 410 men buried here are unknown.  It is the only cemetery in France that is wholly Australian and has no headstones. The cemetery was serenely stunning with its 410 red rose bushes in bloom, and extremely moving.

Our last stop in the French section of the Western Front was the Le Trou Aid Post cemetery. This beautiful cemetery, surrounded by a moat and weeping Willow trees, is set across the road from the buildings that formed the Le Trou Aid Post during the war. It was first used in October 1914. 

We drove north to the Flanders region in Belgium, and after sampling some local Belgian beers and cuisine in the town centre of Ypres (Ieper) we made our way to Menin Gate. Menin Gate is the easterly exit of the town of Ypres, and was the main route used by the troops on their way to the Front line. In the war years there was no gate but a gap in the ramparts guarded by a pair of stone Lions. These Lions now guard the entrance to Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Unveiled in 1927, the interior walls record the names of 54,338 Commonwealth Servicemen who have no known grave, including 6176 Australians. Every night at 8pm the streets around Menin Gate are closed to traffic and crowds gather to hear volunteers from the Ypres Fire Brigade play the Last Post in a Bugle chorus. It is a ritual that has gone on here every night, in all weather, since 1928. The only pause was during the 4yr German occupation in WW2. The Fire Brigade recommenced the service on 6th September 1944 the day the town was liberated.

The Last Post always brings a tear to our eyes and it was even more moving surrounded by the names of the missing soldiers. A beautiful tradition!