io8
THE YPRES TIMES
Tears glistened in the eyes of grim soldiers and the bereaved alike, as during the
one minute's silence, which followed the commendatory, a lark sung a paean of
praise in the heavens above the arch; as they listened to the hymn, O, Valiant
Hearts and to the Archbishop of York's words, "It is Christ the Lord Who stands
to-day at the Menin Gate, and bids us follow Him"; as the poignant notes of
The Last Post pierced their troubled hearts, and The Réveillé exhorted
them to lift up those hearts, to be strong and of good courage, and to be thankful
and proud that a generation of our manhood, without question and almost without
the need of a summons, offered itself for the freedom of mankind. For the rest
of their lives they will assuredly cherish unforgettable memories and ineffaceable
impressions of a wonderful journey faultlessly organized.
The Prince of Wales confessed that he would like to read every one of the
54,896 names on the Menin Gate Memorial; and it was obvious how eagerly he
scanned panel after panel as he passed through the Hall of Memory." As with
him, so too with the majority, the outstanding impression made by the pilgrimage
was the homage which our nation has paid to the individual warrior.
Triumphal arches and memorials in honour of victories and the great
commanders have been erected in all countries and in all ages; but until the
advent of the Menin Gate and its sister monuments, no nation has perpetuated in
stone the names of its individual fallen, from general to private, and equally
honoured them in their deaths for duty nobly done. Again, in our war cemeteries,
not only has each hero his individual headstone, but his next-of-kin has been
permitted to decide what epitaph shall be inscribed upon it. In the course of his
visits to some of our war cemeteries with Sir Fabian Ware, at the conclusicn of
the functions at Ypres, the Prince paused before grave after grave for the purpose
of reading the homely inscriptions which individual sentiments had dictated.
Individuality naturally asserted itself very strikingly in the inscriptions attached
to wreaths and other floral tributes to the fallen. The following are just a few
that I noticed amongst the hundreds that pious hands had placed at the foot of
some memorial, or upon the grave of a loved one during the recent pilgrimage.
Lord Plumer's memorable words: "He is not 'missing'; he is here," predominated.
On the stone steps of the Cross of Sacrifice in Perth (China Wall) Cemetery
lay a large wreath of white and red roses. The card bore the touching words In
this instance God saw fit to answer a true, sweet mother's prayers for the safety
of her boy, who returned home after more than four years. Around this particular
spot in May, 1915, God's Guardian Angel was ever near with marvellous preservation
amid the ghastly slaughter, especially in the Second Battle of Ypres. Now he
treads the sacred ground once more, and places at the Cross of Sacrifice this
wreath as a thank-offering and in memory of his fallen comrades.W.E.B."
In neighbouring cemeteries He will not be lonely now, for Mother has
been here"; He gave his life for his country, and the King has called him home";
Let us try to be more worthy of the'dear ones who died for us"; The pain has
been taken away, and a profound peace has entered into my heart "Went the day
well? I died and never knew; but ill or well, England, I died for you."
Above a grave in Nine Elms Cemetery, Poperinghe, had been laid a floral
tribute in the form of a cricket bat. A card bore the Tines: And when the last
Great Scorer comes to write against each name, He'll ask not if we won or lost,
but how we played the game." A model in flowers of an aeroplane was accompanied
by a black-edged envelope bearing the following Latin sentence, taken, I believe,
from the "Odes of Horace: Ilium aget penna metuente solvi Fama superstes."
Freely translated it read Him undying fame will waft along a wing that dare
not droop."
To its eternal credit, Britain, throughout the war and afterwards in the years
