The Ypres Times.
121
After the service the parade passed through the archway to Whitehall and lined up
on either side of the Cenotaph, where Princess Beatrice placed the Ypres League wreath.
This was composed of white chrysanthemums and lilies with a wide border of blue corn
flowers, and the inscription was as follows To the glorious memory of over 200,000
Britons who fell in the Ypres Salient, 1914-1918 from the Ypres League." Lieutenant-
Colonel J. Sherwood Kelly, V.C., and Sergeant O. Brooks, V.C., were in charge of the
wreath. Another V.C. on parade was Sergeant C. E. Spackman.
Later, a deputation, which included the two first-named V.C.s, carrying a second
wreath, proceeded to Westminster Abbey, where they were received by the Rev. Canon
V. F. Storr, and the wreath was deposited on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE YPRES LEAGUE.
Ypres Day, October 31st, 1926.
Lest We Foegst.
God sent His singers upon earth,
With songs of sadness and of mirth,
That He might touch the hearts of men,
And woo them hack to Heaven again."
H. W. Longfellow.
LEST WE FORGET THEY WERE THERE.
THEY KEPT THE LAND.
O sundered land O severed ties,
O friendships reft, O broken lives,
O hearts be not forgot.
O little mighty selfless band
In this beloved land I stand,
This dear, demented Motherland,
So worn by faction, party strife,
O was it worth the sacrifice
Say, faithful martyred patriot-band.
O you were THERE. You Kept the Land,
Where now you almost aliens stand.
You served your generation WELL.
You more than did your duty.
Go, you who think of naught but gold.
Go, England, Home, and Beauty
And do to them your duty.
U ngratefulGo.
O go, repentant to His Feet, lest He forget
And wake the streets,
Where His beloved sleep,
In that Great Land. In that Great
Silent Land. And you be there,
Forgot.
(Mrs.) H. E. Hawkins.
Thanks to
its organisers
and partici
pants, the
ceremony was
carried
through in a
manner
worthy of the
League, and
we may feel
that once
more the spirit
of Ypres and
the memory
of the fallen
have been
adequately so
lemnised.
THE YPRES LEAGUE BANNER CARRIED IN THE PROCESSION.
•I
