The Ypres Times.
11
bridle, went out to France in August, 1914, with the Expeditionary Force, served through
out the whole war and took part in the advance to the Rhineit was, fittingly, their last
parade, and they have since been pensioned off to end their days in peace and content
ment. The gun itself was the 15-pounder gun which fired the first British shell of the
War on August 22nd, 1914 a jagged hole which could be seen in the gun shield showed
where a German shell had caused the first British artillery casualty of the War.
As the team halted the wreath was lifted off by four serving gunners, and followed
by two of the last enlisted boy-recruits from the Royal Artillery Depot at Woolwich
(both of whose fathers had lost their lives in the War), a gunner of the Territorial Artillery,
an old Chelsea pensioner, and a Yeoman Warder of the Tower (whose father, two uncles,
brother, son and two nephews served like himself as artillerymen), the little party,
representing Past, Present and Future, moved slowly forward to where General Lord
Home, the Senior Colonel Commandant of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on the Active
List, was waiting to meet them. The latter led the party forward tc the steps of the
Memorial, on which the wreath was reverently laid, Lord Home placing in position at its
foot a framed inscription, which read From ALL RANKS of the Royal Regiment
of Artillery in proud remembrance of their honoured dead." Affixed at the top of the
parchment scroll on which the inscription was transcribed was an ordinary somewhat
dirt}' looking brass R.A. rank and file cap badgebut this badge had been taken from
the remains of an unknown gunner found on one of the battlefields south of Ypres. The
frame itself was made from the wood of broken crosses found on the graves of artillerymen
whose bodies have been removed to consecrated ground. At the top of the frame was
set a badge taken from the tunic collar of an officer who had been killed while fighting
his guns in action.*
For a few brief moments the little party stood at the salutethen once again the
drums rolled out their message, ending on a note of exultation as the Band broke into
the triumphant strains of the Slow Match of the Royal Regiment of Artillery" which,
forming as it does a fink of connection through many generations and embodying in its
music the spirit of the artilleryman, sends out its message to all gunners that whatever
fate may befall the individual, the Royal Regiment of Artillery, as a living entity, still
moves serenely on its appointed way.
And so, after the Chaplain-General had pronounced the Benediction and H.R.H.
had inspected the Memorial, the ceremony proper came to an end with a Royal Salute
to the latter as he took his departure.
Then a long column of parties with wreaths, who had been formed up in readiness,
moved forward. The column was led by Generai Sir George Milne, who deposited below
the figure of the unknown gunner a magnificent wreath
From all ranks
of the
ROYAL REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY
in treasured memory of the
Artillerymen of the Great Overseas Dominions
who, in close comradeship,
fought and died side by side with them
in the Great War."
The frame round this inscription had its four sides made of wood grown in and
peculiar to, Canada. Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa respectivelyone side
to each country.
♦This frame has been deposited as a hallowed relic" in the Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich.
