DAY 4 - BELGIUM/FRANCE - Phil & Jill

Personal pilgrimage for Libby

05.07.2019 28 °C

HILL 60 Memorial meant so much to Libby and she gave us all a very informative personal account of her Grandather - Thomas Vivien Bennett (always called Joe) time here in the zypres Salient. Joe had gained a mining engineering degree at Sydney University before he headed off to war. He was a tunnelling expert and hiscservices were well sought over. He was moved all over the place as one tunnel was finished and another one needed. Hill 60 was his most significant work and many diggers have a lot to thank for Joe's efforts. An incidental thing I learned was that the term 'navvies' which I thought meant hard labouring actually came from navigstional digger of tunnels.

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This led on to Caterpillar bunker where Francis from on top of a Geeman pillbox explained the nature of the fighting which occurred here. The actual bunker depression was hard to capture on a photo but it sure would have made a big bang.

The distance between the two fronts in no man's land was not very great. The red line around the pole represented the German front line and the blue tape represented the Allies.

Even though there was little care for trauma stress suffered by the soldiers, a Charles Cheers Wakefield set up a rest house called Talbot House for spiritual and humanitarian help for soldiers suffering severe trauma. He realisef that it did give the soldiers who came some measure of peace so he bought a piece of land with a pool and set about making it a Pool of Peace for soldiers to have a space for reflection.

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On the way back to Ypres for lunch Tilly saw a sign for Armetieres and immediately broke into song and we all followed suit in singing the war song. The ever prepared Francis then bought out some typed words for 'Pack up your troubles in an old kit bag' and 'It's a long way to Tipernary' and we cheerily sang together to lighten the mood.

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I was really pleased to have another couple of hours in the gorgeous little town of Ypres. I didn't bother with lunch but raced off to see the upper side of the town that I had missed on our first visit. The Cathedral with its very modern art sculptures and beautiful windows; the Cloth Hall where the trading was done in yesteryear and lastly the sweet St George's chapel with its cross stitched cushions.

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