Day 3: A Day of Remembrance

Our first stop was the Langemark War Cemetery, this cemetery held German soldiers that fought as well as a mass Kindermorten grave and was also around the sight of the first chlorine gas attack. The stones were flat to the ground and dark stone which is opposite of commonwealth graves, and each stone held a minimum of 6 names. While at the cemetery many of us spotted a grave where a cross was placed with a picture with the name of one the soldiers along with the date of his birth and death, he was 20. This was sad but also heartwarming knowing that people were visiting the cemetery and were remembering him. The mass grave was especially heartbreaking knowing that it held 25 000 students who were all around the same age as us, and the population of the grave was over half of Woodstock.

Our second stop was the St Julien memorial, where the statue of the Brooding Soldier is, we learned the sculpture was in the running to be the sculpture at Vimy Ridge. Here there was a beautiful garden in the surrounding area of the monument, we all took the time to walk through and appreciate the beauty knowing the horror and devestion that existed 100 years ago in that very spot. Once we got back on the bus we were shown a picture that compared Vancouver Corner(where the monument is) now and 100 years ago, which put into perspective how much has really changed.

Our third stop of the day was the Tyne Cot Cemetery, which is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. Here we took time to walk around and place our postcards that were previously written as well as take photos of grave stone inscriptions that touched us. Some inscriptions that we recorded included “A silent thought, A secret tear, Will keep our dear son’s memory dear.”, “Sorrow Vanquished, Labour ended, Jordan passed”, “Sometime we’ll understand”, and “Anchored by love death cannot sever”. This cemetery choked up many of us seeing just the sheer size of it, and later discovering a lot of the stones were for unknown soldiers, and some of the stones represented more than one soldier. While being here I have been shocked at the architecture as well as know well maintained all these cemeteries are.

Next we went back to Ypres, where we stopped for lunch. Some of us had burgers, waffles, or went into different restaurants. We took this time to buy souvenirs, appreciate the saturday market, and visit the stores along the downtown.

Polygonwood Cemetery where we climbed the hill to a large monument and viewed the cemetery below. We later went down the Cemetery where we all tried to find the one german stone that existed separated but still among the Commonwealth. Once you crossed the road there was a small canadian graveyard where we found the single grave. While here Sheridan found a grave that was discovered in the past 10 years, on the bottom it said “Finally at after being lost for 90 years.” Many of us found this heartbreaking and also touching that he was identified after being unknown for 90 years.

Next we stopped at Sanctuary Wood Memorial, Hill 62. This memorial paid tribute to the Canadian soldiers who fought on Hill 62. Once you got up the hill many of us sat down and took time to reflect in memory of the soldiers as well as look at the view of the surrounding land and downtown in the distance.

Our final stop on our way back to the hotel was at Hooge Crater Cemetery. This is another Commonwealth cemetery. It was large in size and had many gravestones had unidentified soldiers, some multiple per stone. While there we found some gravestones that had up to 8 soldiers represented on it, we found this touching because we believed that the unidentified soldiers that fought together were able to be buried together and not separated.

Lastly we returned back to the hotel where we had ham, peas, and tater tots for dinner, along with pea soup. Then got ready for Vimy tomorrow.