MEMORIALS ON THE WESTERN FRONT.
216
The Ypres Times.
It is a matter of general knowledge that many of the graves of those who fell in the
late war have never been discovered. This is the case in all theatres of war, but more
particularly so in France and Belgium. The Imperial War Graves Commission are erecting
headstones on all the graves of which they have knowledge, and they had to decide on the
best method of paying equal honour to those who fell but have no known graves.
Many proposal had to be considered but the Commission decided that the best
method of carrying out this duty was to erect a number of memorials on the Western
Front on which the names of those who have no known graves will be engraved with a
suitable inscription. Each memorial will serve as the centre of the district covered by a
MEMORIAL ARCH AT MENIN GATE.
{Refrinted by hind permission of the Editor of The Times.")
given engagement or series of engagements. The first of these memorials to be erected
is at the Menin Gate, Ypres, through which so many passed never to return. This memorial
has been designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, R.A., and takes the form of a Hall of
Memory between the two archways the space to be covered by the memorial is about
65 feet wide by 115 feet long. It is formed by a single vault half elliptical in section
lighted by three openings in the crown of the vaulting. Work has begun on this monument.
Other memorials on the Western Front will be in the neighbourhood of Armentieres,
Bethune, Arras, Amiens, Pozieres or Albert (for the Somme fighting), St. Quentin, Cambrai
and Soissons. There will also be one at La Ferte sous Jouarre to commemorate the retreat
from Mons and the Battles of the Marne and Aisne, 1914. This memorial also is now
in process of design.
A similar method is to be adopted in other theatres of war—thus the names of those
who fell in Italy and have no known graves have been inscribed on a special memorial
in Giavera British Cemetery. The Memorial to the Missing of the Salonika Expeditionary
Force is at Colonial Hill, Lake Doiran, and is practically completed. Others are in
progress or under consideration in Gallipoli, Palestine, Africa, Egypt, Iraq, etc.
The intention of the Governments of the Empire is that the name of every officer
or man who fell during the Great War should appear on some worthy memorial.
