August Pilgrimage to Ypres.
Free Pilgrimage to the Somme.
The Ypres Times.
233
auspicious occasion may be lasting and he asks all those who are not already members
of the League to strengthen these fresh ties by joining an association whose chief aims
are fellowship, comradeship and commemoration. P. W. BURGESS Capt
Contrary to expectation, the opening of the Menin Gate, which naturally drew many
spectators, had little or no influence on the numbers taking part in the August Bank
Holiday pilgrimage. On July 30th a conducted party left Victoria Station at 10 a.m.,
travelling to Ypres via Ostend. Our destination was reached at 9 o'clock in the evening,
and after the long journey the comfortable accommodation reserved for us at the Hotels
Skindles and Splendid Britannique was very welcome.
Sunday morning was devoted to visiting various cemeteries and the Menin Gate
Memorial, where pilgrims eagerly sought the panels on which were inscribed the names
of relatives and friends. A char-a-banc tour of the battlefields in the near vicinity of
Ypres occupied most of the afternoon, the route being by way of St. Jean, Wieltje, St.
Julien, Zonnebeke, Tyne Cot, Passchendaele Ridge, Becelaere, Gheluvelt, Clapham
Junction, Birr Cross Roads, Maple Copse, Sanctuary Wood, Hill 60, Hellfire Corner, and
back through the Lille Gate.
A more extended tour along the battle front between Ypres and Arras was organised
for Monday. Although the weather left much to be desired it failed to damp the
enthusiasm of the party, all the members of which showed a keen interest in the area
visited and voted the expedition an unqualified success.
Tuesday found us, as usual, reluctant to leave a place which for many held unforget
table memories. Ypres will ever be a lodestone to those who took part in the life-and-
death struggle of 1914-1918.
Among those to whom thanks are due, special mention must be made of the brothers
Parminter, whose attention and kindness on this, as on many a former occasion, con
tributed no small share to the pleasant recollections the pilgrims carried away with
them.
A Free Pilgrimage (August fthto cth), from Halifax to the Somme, left London at
8 a.m., and after a beautiful calm crossing to Boulogne reached Amiens about 4 p.m.,
where it was met by the League's representative, Captain Stuart Oswald, M.C., and con
ducted to the Hotel Central. Here, very comfortable accommodation had been
reserved.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent in strolling round the town and visiting
the cathedral. This magnificent building, the first stone of which was laid in 1218,
contains memorial tablets to the dead of Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, New
Zealand, Newfoundland and the Royal Dragoons.
On Sunday, August 7th, visits were made to sixteen cemeteries, all long distances
apart. These journeys, by car and train, had been very carefully organised by Captain
Oswald, who had thoughtfully arranged for ex-Service men to meet those pilgrims pro
ceeding by train and conduct them to the graves. The party returned to Amiens the same
evening with the satisfaction of having been able at last to see with their own eyes the
resting-places of their loved ones and lay their own personal offerings of flowers as a token
of love and remembrance. It would be impossible to exaggerate the depth of gratitude
felt by every pilgrim for the devotion of the gardeners of the Imperial War Graves
Commission in their work of tending the cemeteries. Their sympathy and kindness,
