The Junior Division of the Ypres League.
'lUR Ypres Times.
71
In the good old days before the War, few of us of the Old Brigade had the least idea
whether or no we could fight. Certainly some poor old people in Europe felt quite sure
we could not and would not fightthey thought that because most of us did not click
our heels smartly, we should never make soldiers. If the Prussian had not made that
mistake there would have been no war we should have been spared how many empty
chairs
Well, you know how we from all over the Empire fought when it came to the point
and all the nations now know too. It is up to you of the New Generation to remember
how your fathers fought and to remind the nations not to forget it. If you want the
world free from another great war, do not merely wave flags and shout about justice and
liberty, but quietly remind yourselves that you have got in your bones the stuff which
gives the strength to make good your word on land and sea. Do not boast about it nor
about your parentage, but just let those others know, without much talk, that you
do not forgetlet them feel that you are quite sure of your power to repulse all who
attempt to put their foot on your neck to crush all who set out to do what you know
to be wrong. Do not be a Jingo." We who have been through the blood and the mud
of it, have had our fill of the glories of war but keep in mindwell, precisely, Ypres
and what that word stands for.
Perhaps your father fell at Albert, or your uncle won his V.C. on the Somme Never
mind thatboth of them probably fought at Ypres at one time or another at all events
bo<ii of them knew, as we all knew, that Ypres was the keystone of the arch which kept
the Boche from falling on the Channel ports and from making the War a far more
dangerous, chancy task for us than it proved to be for without command of the Straits
of Dover the Allies would have been hard put to it. The enemy knew that well enough,
and throughout the War he made a little Hell of the placeand he has left the Salient
ennobled with a quarter of a million of our hallowed gravesand who knows how many
more of us, wounded at Ypres, just got back to die at the base. For more than four years
it was a grim spot for all concerned the Boche made fancy maps of the Salient in the
form of a skull, and he dreaded being sent to fight there.
So, for all time and throughout the Empire, the word Ypres stands for us as the
symbol for sticking it out against all odds, for enduring all the dangers and horrors that
war can produce, for the sake of the Right.
Whenever anyone tries to bully you or to cow you into agreement with what you
know to be wrong, just say the word Ypres to yourself, and you will find your back
has grown stiff and straight as a ramrod. If you have got anything worthy of being called
a backbone, it is just as well to acquaint your neighbours with the fact. Such knowledge
saves a deal of trouble to all parties— in 1914 it would have saved a war.
There is no need to shout about these things it is not our way in the Empire. That
the New Generation may do all that is necesasry in that direction, and do it quietly,
decently and in order, the Ypres League has started a Junior Division. We admit at
present only boys and girls under 18 years of age who are lineal descendants of those who
served in the Salient. At 18 they can become members of the League with all its
privileges that was an age at which a good few men fought and died at Ypres. The
Junior Division is to have re-unions and entertainments of its own, wherever it is strong
enough to make them successful. Prizes will be given for stories and essays. Medals
are to be awarded to members who bring in ten others. Write to the Secretary, Ypres
League, 36, Eaton Place, London, and ask him to send you as many application forms
as you think you can use, but not more. The subscription is put at a shilling a year,
because we want sons and daughters from all service ranks to unite and form one family.
