In Flanders’ fields, the war was staged
The trench lines dug, the barbed wire caged
At Ypres each day
The Last Post is played
To honor the missing, at Menin Gate
Every evening since 1928 the Last Post has been played under the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres at 8 o’clock sharp. Since then it has been played over 30,000 times.
Below is Tyne Cot Cemetary, where 11,956 soldiers are buried, of which 8,369 are unnamed.
Meg Sorick, Author/Artist 
They sacrificed so much
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They certainly did.
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Whenever I read about any aspect of the Great War, I always struggle to get my head around the sheer scale of it… all those young lives destroyed by war
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I know. It’s a horror to contemplate. Our visit to Ypres and Paschendael was a sobering one.
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I have visited Tyne Cot and the Menin gate, it’s hard to put into words the emotions they bring.
Nicely written we all need to remember.
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Thank you. Yes, our visit to the region was a sober one. All those lives lost. All the missing and unidentified remains… It’s heartbreaking.
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WW1 changed the face of war forever. New tactics and battlefield technologies never dreamed of in warfare up to that time.
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The war to end all wars became the war that introduced new ways of making war.
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It was the last war fought using a 19th Century mindset. None of them going in suspected that the rules were changing. I’ve read that it was considered the last “Romantic” war.
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I’ve heard that, too.
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That whole time period fascinates me.
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Me too. I read The Guns Of August a couple years ago and it sparked my interest in the war and the events that led up to it.
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My fascination started with a book called The Passing Bells when I was but a wee lad. Similar to Downton Abbey, but predates it by at least a decade or two. I highly recommend it.
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Excellent! Thanks for the recommendation!
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You’re welcome. I think the author wrote a sequel, but I’ve never read it.
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Meg, this is wonderful! May they forever rest in peace ❤️
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Thank you Rita! May they indeed. ❤
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This is fabulous, very poignant 🙂
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Thank you, Suzanne!
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Another wonderful write, Meg, along with great pictures. What a sad time in history.
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Thanks, Diane. I’m fascinated with the time period. It really was awful…
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Yes…
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This was a thought-provoking post. Funnily enough, I watched a very old British documentary about the First World War on Youtube recently. I think it may have been made in the late 1950s or early 1960s because a lot of the soldiers were still relatively young and healthy. It was fascinating, although often very moving, to listen to their recollections.
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I’m sure… Have you read All Quiet On the Western Front? That and The Guns Of August really sparked my interest. This war was so preventable, no one stopped to talk….
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We had to read “All Quiet on the Western Front” at high school. It was a great book, but so tragic. You’re completely right about the origin of the war too. The history of the period reads like a farce, only one with no humor in it whatsoever.
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Exactly.
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Great post.
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Thanks, Drew!
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