Free Pilgrimage to Ypres,
104
THE YPRES TIMES
Two officers and eighty men of the Scots Guards fought to the last cartridge,
and were found dead in the Rue du Bois surrounded by heaps of German corpses."
Daily Paper.
O, would that I had seen them lying there,
A dauntless few amid the German dead,
With twisted bayonets, and rifles spread
Amid long grass that surely looked more fair,
Seeing it kept a vigil unaware
Of all the glory hovering o'er the bed
Of brave proud men, who fought as they were led,
While thinking on the fame the Scots Guards bear.
Let someone mark the place whereat they fell,
And hedge it round, for in the after-time
Their fame will draw the many who would dwell
Upon those deeds that made an hour sublime.
I hear them shouting there Surrender, Never!
Take the last cartridge here. Scotland for ever!"
By R. Henderson-Bland, late Gloucestershire Regiment.
Lotos Club,
no, West 57 Street, New York.
THE Ypres League pilgrimage of poor mothers, wives, and next-of-kin was
held this year on July 2nd to 5th. The tour was a conducted one, so there
was no fear of travelling, or of failing to find the graves and memorials to
be visited.
The deserving cases, of which there were thirty in number, came from the
following placesLondon, Sheffield, Bradford, Leeds, Sunderland, Liverpool,
Bristol, Newport, Hove, Birmingham, Manchester, Hadleigh, and Eastbourne.
The Sheffield Branch of the Ypres League, through its Hon. Secretary,
Captain J. Wilkinson, arranged that six aged mothers were chosen by readers of
the Sheffield Telegraph, Yorkshire Telegraph and Star, and Sheffield Independent.
Those travelling from the Provinces were given tickets, and accommodation
in London both on the outward and homeward journeys, two nights being spent
at Ypres. The whole expense was defrayed by the Ypres League, which in 1927
established a fund for this purpose.
Immense gratitude was expressed by the pilgrims, who had been given their
long-wished-for opportunity to see the graves of their dear ones, and we quote
Printed in The Graphic," and quoted by Stephen Graham in his book A Private in the Guards."
