A Remembrance Day to Remember

Yesterday, I went on a field trip led by my history professor and his wife out to Ieper (Ypres), Belgium for Armistice Day.

What an amazing trip! To be here in Europe for the 90th anniversary of the day that the Armistice was signed, to be in a place that witnessed such death during the Great War to remember those who perished, is one of the best experiences I've had and something that I won't forget.

We started out the day at the "Flanders Fields" museum. There were a lot of great exhibits, but the most moving one to me was the section on Christmas. Read the same words that I did yesterday - words written down by soldiers over ninety years ago - words that illustrate the beauty of the Christmas spirit.

"The German Company-Commander asked ours if he would accept a couple of barrels of beer. They had plenty of it in the brewery. He accepted the offer with thanks and a couple of their men rolled the barrels over and we took them into our trench. The German officer sent one of his men back to the trench, who appeared shortly after carrying a tray with bottles and glasses on it. Officers of both sides clinked glasses and drank one another's health. Our Company-Commander had presented them with a plum pudding just before. the officers came to an understanding that the unofficial truce would end at midnight. At dusk we went back to our respetive trenches."

"One Englishman was playing on the harmonica of a German lad, some were dancing, while others were proud as peacocks to wear German helmets on their heads. The British burst into song with a carol, to which we replied with "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht." It was a very moving moment - hated and embittered enemies were singing carols around the Christmas tree. All my life I will never forget that sight. We saw that men carried on living, even when they are reduced to killing and butchery...Christmas 1914 will remain unforgettable for me."

There are more quotes, but there's also more to say about the day!

Following the museum, we went to eat a picnic lunch out at a smelly little pub/cafe get-up that agreed to have us eat under their roof (it's Belgium - every day is a rainy day) as long as we purchased a drink. I got my favorite kind of beer - a Kriek (cherry beer - yum!) and enjoyed eating sandwiches with the other customers of the pub/cafe looking on in wonder and amusement at we 54 freeloaders.

This cafe doubles as a museum and trench site, and so after eating our fill, we headed into the back room of this place which was full of artillery shells, barbed wire, photographs, guns, boots, saddles, bones (horse, I assume...I certainly hope they weren't human), airplane propellers - all of this the owner dug up in his back yard and shoved it into a shed for people to look at. Pretty cool, I think. The place had character!


Behind the pub/cafe were some preserved trenches surrounded by the pits left over from artillery fire so many years ago. The trenches were flooded and so I didn't go down into them, but I'm sure it was a miserable way to spend a war, down in the wet earth, which was rocked by the impact of artillery.



After this, we loaded onto the charter bus and headed to two cemeteries: one an English cemetery, and one a German cemetery. Many of the graves read only "Known Unto God" in the English cemetery, and I wonder who the person was that lies there now. Were they young? Old? Did they have a family? Was it their first battle that claimed their life, or their tenth?

(Top: English Graveyard, Bottom: German Graveyard)


Our last stop of the day was the Talbot house. This place had once been owned by a wealthy man who took care of hops (used in beer), but had had to flee to Normandy once the Germans took over poor Belgium (dare I say it, but I find Belgium to really be a plucky little country!). During the war, a Chaplain established a kind of haven in this house where soldiers could come into a wholesome environment (as opposed to going to the taverns and/or acquiring female companionship) with a beautiful, peaceful garden, canteen, library, and comedic performances. There was a chapel at the very top of the house, but the Chaplain didn't force the soldiers to go and visit it (only if they dared). It was without a doubt my favorite stop on the tour. The building is still an oasis today - we were offered coffee and tea, invited to sit around in the living rooms and dining rooms, play the piano, explore the house, use the restroom.

Out in the garden were posted a few poems, which I copied down to share with you all! They were written by soldiers who stayed to visit the Talbot house way back when.

"The sun's a red ball in the oak
and all the grass is grey with dew,
A while ago a blackbird spoke -
He didn't know the world's askew.

And yonder rifleman and I
Wait here behind the misty trees
to shoot the first man that goes by
our rifles at our knees.

Strange that this bird sits there and sings
while we must only sit and plan -
who are so much the higher things -
the murder of our fellow man."

A Listening Post
Robert E. Veinede

"A burst of sudden wings at dawn,
faint voices in a dreary noon,
evenings of mist and murmurings
and night with rainbows of the moon.

And through these things and wood way dim,
and waters dim, and slow sheep seen
on uphill paths that wind away
through summer sounds and harvest green.

This is a song a robin sang
this moring on a broken tree,
It was about the little fields
that call across the world to me."

Home
Francis E. Ledwidge

We were there to witness ceremonies at the end of the day, but the streets were too crowded to get up close, which was disappointing.

Anyway, it was a very special day and I'm very glad that I had the opportunity to remember with the Europeans this great day in history.