84
THE YPRES TIMES
The party mustered twenty-eight, including guests, a satisfactory percentage
considering the difficult times, and after a dead smooth crossing by the Folkestone-
Dunkerque route and breakfast at Skindles Hotel Ypres, we proceeded by motor-
coach, via the Dixmude Road and Salvation Corner, to Essex Farm Cemetery
the 49th (West Riding) Regimentthen to Bard Cottage Cemetery where the first
halt was made. From there we made for Steenstraat to see the magnificent memorial
to the French and Belgian troops caught in the gas attack of May, 1915. We
then crossed the old front line, where numbers of pill-boxes were in the course
of demolition, to Dixmude, the site of the National Memorial to the Flemish dead.
Built in red brick, the austere simplicity of the design and the towering height
are accentuated by the flatness of the surrounding country. For us it was difficult
fully to appreciate the architect's meaning as the design is so unlike anything to
which we are accustomed in our own memorials. Probably the significance is
purely spiritual and represents to the Flemish Belgians their national unity among
the other races.
After an examination of the Bloemolen defences the route lay through Beerste
and Couckelaere to Leugenboom, where lies the sixteen-inch gun used to bombard
Dunkerque. This is still in a good state of preservation in spite of its being
fired into the emplacement when it was abandoned. It was cleverly concealed in the
far end of a long wood, and it was due to this, and to the extreme range, that
our guns were never able to register a direct hit, although on three occasions they
placed twelve-inch shells on the edge of the emplacement. Incidentally no allied
battery was ever put out of action by this gun. Although its practical value
to the enemy was negligible it remains as a superb example of advanced siege-gun
practice.
Leaving Ostend, where lunch was provided, we followed the coast road
through Coq-sur-Mer and Blankenberghe to Zeebrugge where the museum was
visited. The ex-Petty Officer R.N. in charge of the museum gave a very lucid
explanation of the tactics at the St. George's Day landing.
At Bruges the beauty of the architecture always strikes the visitor afresh,
but the carillon was disappointing. On the run back a stop was made at the
memorial to Capt. Guynemer, the famous pilot who was shot down at Poelcapelle
in 1917.
On arriving back at Ypres an excellent reunion dinner was served at Skindles
Hotel and then our party attended at the Menin Gate to hear the town buglers
sound off Last Post." The evening was wound up with a sing-song in the
course of which much latent talent was discovered among the members, and we
were indebted to the proprietress of Skindles for her charming songs and her
unflagging efforts at the piano.
At noon on Sunday morning the Resident Chaplain conducted an impressive
service at the Menin Gate. This was held in the South Gallery opposite to the names
of R.A.M.C. who have no known grave.
During Sunday afternoon the party made its way back to Dunkerque, and
some of the members stopped at Poperinghe to visit Toe H. The tour was con
cluded with an excellent dinner served at the Seamen's Institute, Dunkerque, and
so back to London. The time went all too quickly and we remembered that
another year must elapse before we should all meet again. It is a truism that
the past cannot be recalled, but when old comrades meet it seems to return of
its own free will. At the sound of the familiar voices and the clasp of the well-
known hands the years drop away and we live again in the imperishable brotherhood
of a great endeavour.
M.-H.