A School Trip Like No Other - A Student Blog Post by Kyra Pashely Y11

Kyra Pashely Y11

We walked into the beautiful old style town center of Ypres at night and stood in awe beneath the spectacular building in front of us; the historical Cloth Hall. Looking up at the building gave a real impact of how the next few days would affect us, because I don’t think anybody knew the grand scale of the events. After learning about the battles that took place and the ruins that they left where we stood, we went to visit the amazing Menin Gate. It was breath taking, there were so many names written across the white stone, 55,000 of the missing in action in the Ypres area alone. Poppies, wreathes and small crosses with loving messages were placed along the names. What excited the group was finding their surnames in Staffordshire/Cheshire Regiments. This made us realize that this was is very personal to everybody- even 100 years on. As we walked back we saw the cathedral and the Cloth Hall together, and from learning that this was a complete replica of the original, we thought that it was stunning. The atmosphere left us speechless and amazed. 

We got back to the hotel and couldn’t stop talking all night, buzzing from the excitement. It was a completely different school trip from any before.

The next morning we travelled down to the’ In Flanders Fields Museum’, which was in the Cloth Hall. It was interesting to see the war from a French and Belgian perspective. We received poppy bracelets, which represented a different person’s life during the war. We could scan them throughout the museum and learn about their struggles. Two people had Marie Curie, which was intriguing because we could learn about another aspect of her life. At the gift shop several people bought a poppy or cross to place at a grave that we were to visit.

Our next stop was at Essex Farm and where the poet, John McCrae, wrote his famous poem. The poem uses the word ‘poppies’ a lot which, as our amazing tour guide Raoul explained, was the first reason to explain the use of poppies, this is why most wreathes and a famous symbol of the war is the red poppy.  Many people think the poet is buried in the cemetery by Essex Farm, however that is not the case as he died in France, so was buried there. We saw where the casualties were taken after being injured. There were seven rooms, which were low ceilinged and tight spaced. The WC and the kitchen were long narrow rooms.

The graves in Essex Farm were very peaceful, however we were shown a row of soldiers that were known or thought to be buried in that area.

The group felt strange to be walking on top of the bodies of soldiers, and also sad because we felt that each soldier deserves a formal burial. We then saw a grave of a 15-year-old soldier, and learnt that he had lied about his aged, accidently let slip that he was 15 to his officers, who told him to walk around a little and come back as an 18 year old. His story shocked us because it was our age and we could not begin to imagine his experience, we also felt anger at the generals for letting this boy into the war.

The next cemetery we visited was another place all together. It was a German cemetery. As we came to the cemetery we knew that this was not going to be the same as the other cemeteries we had visited. It was very dark and gloomy with the trees  planted in a ring, so that no light could shine onto the graves. It was very eerie and sinister.  The tour guide explained that teachers told their students (15-17 years old) to join their fathers, uncles and brothers in the war. They called it the children’s war. There was a room in the cemetery with 6,000 identified German soldiers and 2000 German boys names that died in October 1916. The room on the other side showed a map of Belgium, the tour guide explained that as German soldiers died they had to be buried around the battles. He said that the Belgian government gave the land to the Germans for 35 years and when that time period ended they had to collect al the bodies and rebury them in four mass grave cemeteries, one of which was where we were, 44, 344 German soldiers were buried.

The Canadian monument, the Brooding Soldier, was very powerful and eye catching. It showed a mourning soldier bowing his head with both hands on a reversed riffle, a sign of deepest respect to his fallen friends. 18,000 Canadians were involved in multiple gas attack here. This is one of Mr. Dawson’s favorite monuments and the group soon understood why.

We then travelled to Tyne Cot cemetery where 35,000 names of soldiers missing in action were listed. Marcus’s relative was one of them. There were so many names it was so hard to comprehend. Among the thousands of gravestones we learnt that it was expensive to have a personal letter on a gravestone and saw many Unknown Soldier’s gravestones. 

Next stop was the trenches at Sanctuary Wood. It was unbelievable to think that soldiers walked, fought and lived in these trenches for a considerable amount of time. They were narrow, low and very dark. However we saw that they served a purpose with the amount of shell holes that surrounded the area. 

We had finished the great list of places to visit for the day; so we had time to stop off at cemeteries of relatives, this included one of Joe Day’s and one of mine.  We drove down to the cemetery where my Great Great Grandad was buried. This would be the very first grave that I had visited in my life and I would also be the first one in my family to visit it. I didn’t know how it was going to affect me. The weather was shocking on the way there but it seemed to clear up nicely when we reached the place. We found the grave, I stood in front of it and took it all in. It was amazing to see someone from my family buried in such a beautiful cemetery like this; with the sun setting over the Sacrificial Cross it was so peaceful. I placed a picture of his family and a lovely letter that my sister had written to him, also a small cross with the phrase ‘You gave your tomorrows for our todays’. This was a whole different experience for me, which will stay with me forever. It was like nothing before.  As I walked to the visitor’s book it must have just hit me and I burst into tears, it was so beautiful and I felt extremely privileged to have done it.

Day 2

Today was an early start but everybody was wide-awake to see more amazing monuments. Our first stop was Vim Mel Ridge, the international Canadian monument. As we drove to the entrance we saw the landscape was completely undulated terrain, looking like a loonier landscape. It was fascinating to know that there was still unexploded ammunition in the ground. We could see the magnificent Canadian monument through the trees, which stood high into the clear blue sky. Our tour guide explained that the area fell into the German hands and the Moroccan division in the French army took it back in may 1915. To commemorate that fact, they built a memorial for the Moroccan division.

The Canadians were here in 1917 and bombarded the German trench system and 30,000 Canadians attacked the Germans and were successful; Canada became a real nation there. The national monument that stood in front of us was bright white, symbolizing the entrance to heaven with angels guarding the gateway. There was a mother and father grieving over their loss at the base of the grand monument. Around the front of the monument there was a soldier showing that he is ready to die, and there was another man over him passing a torch to the next generations, representing that if the torch dies the memory will die with it. There was a grand lady at the front of the monument with her head down, mourning for all that have died. She is known as the spirit of Canada and is also known as the weeping mother, looking after all that have fallen. We saw a few Canadian soldiers who have volunteered to work at the Canadian monuments for four months. They see it as an honor.

Our next visit was to Beaumont Hammel, where all the Newfoundlanders of Canada fought. It had 6,000 soldiers and the first battalion fought. We could see the first line, the second line and the communication lines of trenches in this area. On the first day of battle 800 soldiers went out to fight, by the end only 68 men answered their name. 

We got onto the coach to France and drove close to the absolutely striking memorial of Theipval, there was complete silence on the coach as Roul told us about the battle of the Somme.