THE YPRES TIMES
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THE Ploegsteert Memorial, unveiled by the Duke of Brabant on June 7th,
records the names of 11,447 officers and men of the forces of the British
Empire who fell fighting in the years 1914 to 1918 between the River Douve
and the towns of Estaires and Fournes, whose names are here recorded but to
whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their
comrades in death.
The Duke came by aeroplane as far as Courtrai and then drove by motor-car to
the Grand' Place in Ploegsteert, where he was received by the Mayor and Municipal
Council. A procession was formed and proceeded to the Royal Berks Cemetery
Reproduced ky kind permission of Mr. H. Benson, M.A.
THE MEMORIAL.
Extension. There was a distinguished gathering present, and the proceedings
were opened with a prayer by the Rev. W. H. Blackburne, after which General
Sir Robert Whigham spoke as the representative of Canada, recounting the
glorious deeds of arms which had taken place on this part of the front. The Duke
then released the cord, the British, Belgian, and French flags dropped, and the
Memorial stood open to view. Wreaths were laid, and massed bands played the
Belgian and British National Anthems (in which choirs of school children joined).
Ploegsteert was the centre of much determined fighting. The Battle of
Armentières started early in October, 1914; the Battle of Aubers Ridge in May,
1915; subsidiary attacks in connection with the Battle of Loos in September, 1915
the attack at Fromelles in July, 1916; the Battles of Estaires, Hazebrouck, and
Bailleul in April, 1918, all resulted in the loss of many men, some of whom are
missing with no known graves, and are now honoured by the Ploegsteert MemoriaL
