Menin Gate, Ieper

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Many soldiers killed in action at the Ypres salient were not buried; they simply disappeared in the ground.
Others whose bodies were found could not be identified and lie in cemeteries as unknown soldiers.
The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing bears the names of 54.896 men who lost their lives between the start of the war and 15 August 1917.

"IN MAIOREM DEI GLORIAM
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"

After that date the other 34.984 missing soldiers are mentioned on the monument of the Tyne Cot cemetery in Passendale.
Can you imagine 90.000 missing only for the British and Commonwealth forces at the salient of Ypres!

The monument by architect Reginald Blomfield was built in a classic style at the cutting through the remains of the ancient ramparts crossing the moat known as the "Meenenpoorte". The road from this gateway leads to the town of Menin.
During almost the whole period of the war thousands of British and Commonwealth troops marched through this gateway into the battlefields of the Ypres Salient.

The Monument was begun in June 1921 and inaugurated in 1927 and became one of the best known British and Commonwealth WW I monuments.
The names of the missing are engraved on the walls and are arranged by regiment and rank. British, Canadians, Australians, Indians, Gurkhas; the list goes on.
New Zealand forces are named on separate memorials.

The Menin Road is still an important thoroughfare. Cars and pedestrians pass under the gate as part of the daily life of Ieper/Ypres.

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I have to admit I was totally overwhelmed and moved when I saw the Menin Gate - and this was my second visit.

You simply cannot comprehend all those men that lost their lives for the sake of war - and it just makes you so sad to think of their lives cut short and the families they left behind.

You must visit the Menin Gate at least once in your lifetime to show your respects - perhaps if more people visited and understood the futility of war perhaps the world would be a more peaceful place.

We were honoured to witness the last post - a truly memorable experience.

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Delegations of schools, patriotic and military associations from the countries of the Commonwealth having participated to WW I are generally present at the daily ceremony of Last Post. The calendar of their passage can be found on the site of the association: www.lastpost.be .

During our VT meeting in Ypres/Ieper on April 21, 2007 we saw a delegation of recruits of the Welsh Guards (in civilian suits with the red and blue tie of the regiment, pic 2) . The officer leading them was in uniform wearing a cap with the typical badge of a "leek", ancestral Welsh military emblem .

I have a personal gratitude towards the Welsh Guards regiment because they liberated Brussels on Sept. 3, 1944 (see my intro page on Belgium and Brussels).

They left numerous dead on the battlefields of France and Flanders during the Great War. The names of the "missing" are engraved on the walls of the Menin Gate memorial. (pic 3).
The 1st battalion of Welsh Guards was raised in Feb. 1915 and arrived in France in August, 1915. It was part of the Guards Division and participated in 1917 to the battles of Ypres and Passendale.
Approximately 4.050 Welsh Guards participated in the operations from 1915 till November, 1918. Among them 880 were killed, 1.750 were wounded (information by courtesy of Nick Farr, WGO) .

At the Menin Gate on this 26.996th "Last Post" ceremony the recruits of the Welsh Guards honoured their predecessors; within some months they will belong to the elite troops on guard at Buckingham Palace, participating at the "Trooping the Colour" wearing the famous red tunic and bearskin (photo 1 by courtesy of WelshGuardsOnline).
They will also be on military operations in various countries.

On the cold evening of January 1, 19:30 we decided to go for a walk in Ypres. We had to hurry to be on time for "The Last Post" ceremony at the Menin Gate Memorial. Even on this special day and the cold, there were many people present showing their respect to all soldiers of the British Commonwealth who fell on the battlefield east of this town during World War I and that have no known grave. In total the names of 54,896 soldiers are written on the walls of the memorial. Everyday since 1928, "The Last Post" has been played with the aim is to maintain this in perpetuity.

Link:
http://filipdemuinck-kristelpardon.blogspot.com/2010/01/ypres-menin-gate-and-cloth-hall-ieper.html

As I mentioned in one of my previous tips, poppies (artificial ones) are usual gifts by visitors from the Commonwealth countries. They are put on the memorials in the form of wreaths or as a single poppy on a cross.

Belgians are used to put natural flowers on the graves or monuments.
The natural flowers you can see from my photo at the Menin Gate Memorial are from Belgian Reserve Officers and from a Dutch patriotic association.

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We walked up to and through the archway, reading as we went some of the names of 55,000 British soldiers who died in uniform but have no known graves.

As we did so we visulised and heard the scene we have watched so many times on film and TV - the daily salute of the Last Post played by a bugler of the local fire brigade band in tribute and remembrance to all who died here.

Afterwards we climbed the short ascent to the ramparts.
There, 4 or 5 American visitors aged about 14/15, who did not appear to be in the company of an adult, played leap-frog over the granite model of the Gate and pushed their faces inside whenever anyone attempted to take a photograph.
Their girlfirends were embarrassed, not to say distressed, and finally succeeded in dragging them away but not before I had let them know how much their lack of awareness and respect could affect and upset other people, specially any visiting relatives of the dead.

We then walked a little way along the ramparts noticing a Memorial "In memory of those from the Indian Army who fought gallantly in Flanders"

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The Menin Gate, through which so many hundreds of thousand of troops marched to their deaths, was restored and preserved as a memorial.

54 986 names are written there, men from the UK and Commonwealth who died or who are still 'missing'.

It is only when one begins to read those names that the reality begins to enter one's consciousness: these were real people, who loved and were loved.

There will be wreaths, some from UK school parties. There always are. Read what some of them say.

The Menin Gate is a huge memorial, but it is the small detail which brings home the sheer waste of life.

Every night at 8pm, since 1929 (apart from during the German Occupation in 1940 - 1944), the 'Last Post' is played, and a service of remembrance is held. If you are in Ieper at the right time, you should go.

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The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing was inaugurated on Sunday 24 July, 1927.Nothing prepars for you for the size of it. It is huge!! The memorial contains the names of 54,896 officers and men from all the overseas British and Commonwealth forces who fell in the Ypres Salient before 16 August 1917. Every night at 8pm there is ceremony of the Last Post. ll This is said to move people to tears and is always well attended.