88
The Ypres Times.
Did the dead men know Many of those who watched this tremendous spectacle
were, it may be, visited by a passing vision, a fleeting fancy, that above each grave a
British soldier stood erect at the salute, greeting his Sovereign, radiant, unforgetful,
unconquered.
I am not dead or sleeping at my post,
Above this mound in spirit I yet stand.
The first of the military cemeteries to be visited was Tyne Cot, near Zonnebeke,
with its 14,000 graves, the largest of the concentration cemeteries in the Salient. Within
the area upstand the battered vestiges of perhaps the earliest of the famous German
concrete emplacements, which our soldiers called pill-boxes." From thence His Majesty
visited Potizje, the Ypres Town Cemetery, the Ypres Military Cemetery and the Vlamer-
tinghe Cemetery. When he left the Ypres Salient, it was to continue the inspection
of the graves of our soldiers who had held the battle line and had fallen on the soil of
France.
Describing the King's visit the Times correspondent says of the concrete German
emplacements at Tyne Cot that-
The King went all over it and to the top of it, paying it special attention, because
it is to be left as it stands as part of the memorial to the dead. Another object that
attracted his attention was the grave of Sergeant McGee, the Australian V.C. He also
inspected the ex-Service men who act as guardians of the cemeterv.
H.M. The King inspecting a British Cemetery at Ypres. [Photo, Central News.
Continuing his journey by road, his Majesty paused a moment at the Aeroplane
British cemetery and the French cemetery of St. Charles de Potzje, both on the approach
to Ypres, and then spent some time in the Ypres Town Extension British Military Cemetery.
The first grave which he sought here was that of Prince Maurice of Battenberg, which
has at present a plain wooden cross, but is planted with beautiful flowers and bore a large
wreath presented by the town of Ypres. Here, too, the King drew the attention of his
party to the spot where a shell had fallen and killed eight officers, all of whom are now
buried where they fell, among them being Major the Hon. W. Cadogan.
The next stop was in the City of Ypres, now an indescribable mixture of desolation
and of new and eager life, Here he was received by the Burgomaster and officials of the
town, and signed his name in the visitors' book. He then examined, on the site, the
