THE YPRES TIMES
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exploring the city and various places we had known in the immediate neighbourhood.
After lunch we boarded a motor coach and proceeded via Poperinghe to the new military
cemetery on the Reninghelst Road, where a wreath was laid in affectionate memory of
eight of our old comrades who are buried there. How beautiful and well kept are these
British cemeteries both in Belgium and in France. Then on through Reninghelst,
Ouderdom, Dickebusch, Hill 60, Sanctuary Wood, Tyne Cot, Gheluvelt, Hooge and so
back to Ypres. What visions and memories these places conjured up, and what a
contrast to what we once knew, to see the rolling cornfields and red-tiled cottages and
farmhouses in all directions. Just before nine o'clock we walked to the Menin Gate to
Photo[L. DuhatneeuwYpres.
MEMBERS OF THE 5TH LONDON FIELD AMBULANCE.
be present when the Belgian buglers sounded the Last Post," a beautiful little ceremony
which is carried out every evening at that hour.
On Monday morning the party again took the motor coach, proceeding over
Wytschaete Ridge to the frontier, where the usual formalities took place, and soon we
found ourselves once more in the land of slag heaps and mine shafts. Bully Grenay,
Mazingarbe, Noeux-les-Mines, La Bassée and Loos were all visited on this trip, and a
good view was obtained of the famous Hohenzollern Redoubt, the journey eventually
ending at Arras, where a first-rate lunch awaited us at the Hotel de L'Univers. The
afternoon was devoted to Vimy Ridge with its wonderful tunnels and craters and the
fine Canadian Memorial Park. A halt was also made at Carency and Cabaret Rouge
and a visit paid to the wonderful French Memorial on the Lorette Heights.
A whole day motor trip was arranged for the last day, commencing with Bourlon