WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM On the centenary of the Battle of Messines, one writer’s poignant visit to honour the Irish fallen of WWI
IT’S strange the thoughts that come into your mind as you find yourself in alien territory, and they come don’t much more alien than the German cemetery in Flanders. There the remains of over 40,000 soldiers are buried, victims of both wars. As I walked among the flat stones, there were no flowers or tributes except for a small cluster of wreaths and a lone Star of David marker with a single poppy on it.
I couldn’t help thinking what would have happened if anyone had said surrender when everything went wrong? Would it have been such a tragedy to admit defeat? If they had the world would have been a different place. We probably wouldn’t have had a Second World War, or needed the European Union. We’d probably all be fluent in several languages and possibly all be driving around in BMWs, VWs and Audis.
We all know that didn’t happen though. Instead we had the battles for the Western Front. A hundred years later, driving through Flanders the fields of ripening crops shimmer in the sun. As far as the eye can see are fertile farms and pretty towns. I am reminded of John McCrae, a Canadian Lieutenant Colonel’s poem. ‘In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row and row. They mark our place; and in the sky The larks still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. In 1917 this part of the world was decimated, filled with crater and shell holes,
No matter whose foe, they all left families and friends behind
contaminated by gas and body parts, buildings levelled and the muddy earth churned up and unrecognisable.
In preparation for the Battle of the Somme the British had launched a week-long bombardment in which they had fired 1.6 million rounds of ammunition. Concealed under this chaos between Zonnebeke and its neighbouring five villages lay the biggest concentration of underground tunnels and bunkers.
Three-thousand five-hundred soldiers from the 32 counties died serving with the British during WW1 and it would be several decades before they would be properly remembered anywhere.
It would also be over 80 years before the Irish got their own Peace Park in Messines, Ypres. Its centrepiece is a 100ft high round tower, constructed with stone from a former British army barracks in Tipperary and a workhouse in Westmeath. President McAleese opened this in the presence of Queen Elizabeth of Britain and King Albert of Belgium.
In this quiet place simple granite stones declare the bold facts. ‘10th Irish Division 9,363, killed wounded and missing, 16th Irish Division 28,398, killed wounded and missing, 36th Ulster Division 32,186,’ and so it goes on.The struggles are well documented. The horrors too real to feature in a travel article, yet stories of heroism, loyalty and bravery abound.
One that captures the imagination in this part of the world is that of Irish nationalist Irishmen Major Willie Redmond, MP, of the 6th Battalion of the Irish Ulster Regiment, and his rescuer, Private John Meeke, from the 11th Division of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Being joined by John Redmond Green, Redmond’s grand-nephew on this visit, added an extra sense of reality for me, as he told us at the graveside how the Major was injured during the Battle of Messines Ridge on June 7th 1917.
Redmond subsequently died from his wounds and was buried in a convent grounds at Locre, a grave which now stands away from the official war cemetery. Meeke got the Military Medal for his bravery and survived the war, but died from tuberculosis a few years later.
Until 2004, he lay in an unmarked grave in Derrykeighan in County Antrim.
Irish war poet wrote Francis Ledwidge wrote: ‘And now I’m drinking wine in France, The helpless child of circumstance. Tomorrow will be loud with war, How will I be accounted for?’
He didn’t live to find out. He died in the Battle of Passchendaele
Such are the parallels of war – some are remembered – others gone without a trace. However as I travelled around the cemeteries and fields of Flanders I was struck again and again by the dignity and respect with which these fallen men are remembered.
IN Ypres I stood with hundreds under the imposing Menin Gate, the memorial to the missing and those whose graves are unknown. They ran out of space after 54,896 names were engraved on its walls and archways. The remaining 34,888 appear on the walls at Tyne Cot Memorial.
No matter whose enemy or foe they were, the soldiers of WW1 all had family and friends who were left behind.
And in the words of the poet Laurence Binyon. ‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We shall remember them.’ And they do. Traffic stops every night at 8pm and the Last Post bugles out above the silence. When we were there a Scottish piper played a haunting lament and several wreaths were placed ceremoniously on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This tradition started in 1927 and, apart from during German occupancy in WW2, is has continued without a break.
Flanders does all this remembering very well. It’s possible to gain a real insight into the history without venturing any further than In Flanders Fields Museum, right in the centre of the historic town of Ypres. The Passchendaele Memorial Museum in Zonnebeke is devoted to the Third battle of Ypres, where in only 100 days almost 500,000 men were killed, capturing a mere eight kilometres of ground. This is complete with underground bunkers and trenches. There’s also a wonderful private museum at the Hooge Crater Museum Café.
Flanders has a lot to offer, if history is not your thing. It’s famous for its cuisine and we sampled some of the best at Trilogie, and at Den Heksestoel in Loker, close to Messines. Apart from Belgian fries, mussels, chocolate and waffles we also dined like royalty on an island Pacific Eilandje - in Ypres.
Well, if it’s good enough for Queen Mathilde of Belgium to take her girl friends to and for her husband King Albert 11 to entertain occasionally, then it was certainly good enough for me! And it didn’t disappoint.
A set menu with three courses starts at €47 excluding drinks (€55 with paired beers or €58 with wines).