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The Ypres Times.
Comradeship is a very great thing, and the bond of union that was cemented in blood
at Ypres should be one that no human power can ever dissolve.
The Ypres League has many objects, but to none can one attach more real importance
than that of promoting the comradeship and re-union of'officers and men
Who fought at Yper
In the heart of storied Flanders,
Faced the guns and stoutly manned them,
Swam the slough and dug the trenches."
The word Ypres should be one of masonic powerit should have an invincible
claim upon us who fought there to help those who were our comrades-in-arms, and are
in less good case than ourselves. And as we were united against the Boche in shell-swept
trenches in the old days, so shall we be united to one another in this year of grace, and
the coming years, in an everlasting brotherhood.
The Ypres Times comes into existence, as the organ of the League, to serve the
purpose of yet another link in the chain that binds us for all time, wherever we may
be, with the shattered city of the Low Countries that is in itself an everlasting memorial
to British arms.
A FEW WORDS OF GREETING.
The Editor has received a number of messages of goodwill from distinguished members
of the Ypres League, amongst them F.-M. Lord Plumer of Messines, who declares that
we must work for a reunion in London of all the Members of the League," and General
Lord Byng of Vimy.
From F.M. LORD ALLENBY:—
Accept the expression of my best wishes for the success of the Ypres Times." I
hope that it will be able to do good work in promoting the objects of the Ypres League.
From LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR PHILIP W. CHETWODE
I am very glad to hear you are issuing the first number of the quarterly journal
of the Ypres League. I wish you every success in your attempt to keep alive the memory
of what is perhaps the most notable feat of British arms of all times.
From THE EDITOR .OF THE WIPERS TIMES (the famous magazine of the trenches).
The Wipers Times." What memories those words conjure up Most of them
now seem so distant that almost they might be only indifferently remembered dreams
others, however, still remain vivid and real. Luckily, the latter are those which one would
wish to remembergood pals and good times. I don't suppose any of us looked forward
much in those days, but had we done so, I suppose that some such league as this present
one would have been the hope of us all. It is impossible that memories shared by so
many and meaning so much should be allowed to die. Tradition means much to all nations,
and surely England never had a greater tradition to live up to than Wipers." However,
all this has been said at greater length and more ably by the founders of the League,"
so I'll just confine myself, in the name of all associated with the old Wipers Times,"
jn wishing success firstly to the League itself, and secondly, to the new Ypres Times."
May the paper have the spirit of Wipers," and the editor be as ably and as willingly
served as was his present contributor.
[An article On the old Wipers Tunes appears elsewhere in this issue.]
From MAJOR-GENERAL SIR C. E. PEREIRA
The Ypres Times should receive the fullest support from all those who
served in the Salient where so many qf their best friends lie buried. The League affords
the best means of keeping alive the memory of their gallant deeds, and is a tribute from
those who have survived.
