The Ypres Times.
87
THE YPRES ARMY.
The King Reviews His Lost Legions.
By Lt.-Col. BECKLES-WILLSON.
On Thursday, the 11th May, 1922, word ran from Bixschoote to Vormezeele that His
Majesty King George of England would that day hold a review of his troops in the old
Ypres Salient.
Hurrying from field, cottage and improvised shelter came the Flemish peasantry,
young and old, to line the roads and see the King and his famous captains pass. There
was an eagerness in their faces but you could not help observing also a curious restraint,
as if each in that multitude, even the hushed children, was conscious that a solemn and
sacred thing was about to happen, more solemn and sacred than anything that had yet
happened in that battlefield of sacrifice and memories. It was also a stupendous thing.
For was not their King come at last to review his brave legions in Flandersa greater
army than any monarch in history had ever reviewed before
H.M. The King being received by the Burgomaster of Ypres.
[Photo, Central News.
The day has come and gone. There was no pomp no deploying of horse or foot
or guns no music, no marching men, no shouts of command no streaming standards.
Yet the serried ranks covered the battlefield, confronting their leader and King. Two
hundred thousandJBritish soldiers were lined up on this immortal ground. The Sovereign,
pale and with trembling lip, salutedbut the salute was not returned. There was utter
silence in the ranks. One looked and saw, as far as the eye could reach, everywhere
the discipline of death but in that truly moving moment one also felt everywhere the
peace of God.
