DAY 3 - POETRY AND ROSES - Phil & Jill

The sun was bursting into our room as we made our way to breakfast but it was not predicted to be a boiling hot dsy, just around 25... perfect!

Phil was in fine form having slept very well, loving the fine company and doing what we were seeing each day. It was putting a picture to all his reading and filling in many gaps.

Essex Road cemetry is what we would call a triage centre where Australian doctors and nurses tended to the wounded. Tbey had to make the call on who should receive treatment and moved by ambulance or those considered not going to make it. Lt Col John McCrae was a physican here and was visibly upset by the decisions that needed to be constantly made. He turned to poetry to help his depression. It is said that after he wrote the poem:

In Flanders Field the poppies blow,
Between the sticks, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky
The Larks, still bravely singing, fly scarce
Heard amid the guns below.........

He threw it away but it was salvaged by a mate and now is read at many ceremonies. The red of the poppy was the symbolised by the blood of the fallen from this poem.

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Francis also told us and showed us the grave of Private Stratwedge who died aged 13. He was a sturdy looking lad at a time England desperately needed soldiers. It was later discovered that he had run away to war from his mother, who was a single mum and never contacted her at all. The story goes that when lads came in and obviously lied about their age, they were sent around the block for a walk and told to come back looking 18. Later in the war it became more restricted. It was a very sad moment indeed to hear about this young boy.

Tyne Cot is both a former battlefield and cemetry. In 1915, the Northumberland Fusiliers had named a barn that stood here Tyne Cottage. Five German pill boxes surrounded it, occupying the high ground. For the first time in October 1917 four Anzac divisions fought together, in a line and faced murderous German fire but eventuallty drove the Germans out. The 40th Battalion of Tasmanian troops played a major role. That is the division my grandfather belonged to. There are 2 graves of Australian soldiers who were given VC medals for their valour. Sgt Lewis MCGee, a 29 year old from Tasmania was one of them.

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After the war, this became the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in the world with more than 11,900 Commonwealth graves. There are 1,369 Australian soldiers buried here. 791 of them unknown. This makes Tyne Cot the largest Australian cemetery of the first World War. The walls of the memorial contain the names of 35,000 men with no known grave.

The Canadians ran a competitiion to judge what they felt was their best memirial. Vimy Ridge was considered the winner and The Brooding Soldier at St Julian - Vancouver corner was judged 2nd. The judges were critical of some military inaccuracies on this statute such as the chin strap and positioning of the helmet. This impressive statute was in a park of yellow cypresses and other colourful trees. Everyone felt a breath of fresh air walking in this peaceful park after the scenes in the cemetries which continued to take your breath away.

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There are 14 German cemetries. The Germans repatriated a lot of their dead. A dark, sombre site is at Landmarkt. To think that Hitler walked through the gates from where I took a photo of Denise and Mike. You enter down a grey steel lined tunnel which sets the atmosphere from the beginning.

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Michael had come to Australia as a 16 year old lad from Wales and was thrilled when Francis said we were going to a little 'back roadish' to find the Welsh Memorial Park. To top it off there was a group of Welsh bikies visiting and so some conversation pursued in Welsh.

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One of the bloodiest battles is commemorated by one of the prettiest cemetries if that is the right word for a cemetery. Passchendaele is known as the 3rd Battle of Ypres. It occurred because of a dispute between Haig, the British commander and Currie, the Canadian commander. Haig won out as he believed to break the German lines here would stop the Germans getting to the coastal area and eventually attacking England. The battle was fought in mud and terrible conditions. The armies under British command suffered 275,000 lost and the Germans 220,000 killed.

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Passchendaele would be remembered as a symbol of the worst horrors of WWI, the sheer futility and the reckless disregard by some of the war's senior leaders for the lives of the men under their control.

Two German soldiers are also buried here. Their graves are denoted by a straight top as against the curved shape of the Commonwealth soldiers graves.

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On the map the area of Polygon Wood - a memorial for the AIF - is called the area of rotten stumps
You walk along a dirt path in the forest til you come to the memorial. This statute defining the New Zealand flag cleverly shows soldiers marching.

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So once again how much have we seen. It has been very well paced and enough time at each pkace to wander around freely and soak in all the things on the graves. For me an interesting point was the differently designed insignias on the graves and the poignant messages put on many of the graves by the families. You would have to be made of stone not to be emotionally challenged by the outpouring of sorrow.

We had only travelled a radius of approximately 30 sq miles so dense was the fighting in this area. We only touched the surface of visiting the cemetries with over 900 in this region. A lot of the smallee ones are called battlefield cemetries and is where the soldiers fell. They are permanent reminders to the local people who now have their farms or houses alongside.

Back to t'Hooge for lunch around 2pm and a rest before venturing into Ypres ( Leper) as the Belgians call iy this evening for The Last Post.