2
THE YPRES TIMES
ONE great brotherhood of the war persists in the shape of the Ypres League which
celebrated its eleventh anniversary in holding an exceedingly impressive and
well-attended commemoration on Sunday, November ist, in glorious memory
of the First Battle of Ypres.
H.R.H. Princess Beatrice, Patron of the League, was received by its President,
Field-Marshal Viscount Plumer on the Horse Guards Parade at 3.5 p.m., and among
those present included H.E. The Belgian Ambassador, The High Commissioner for
Newfoundland, The Viscountess Plumer, Lieut.-General Sir W. P. Pulteney and members
of the Ypres League Committee.
The weather was all that could be desired, and the gathering could be estimated
at 2,000, which included troops and ex-service men drawn up in a hollow square, namely,
the ist Surrey Rifles, The Rangers (12th London Regiment), The London Rifle Brigade,
St. Albans School Officers' Training Corps, The Old Contemptibles (over 200 strong),
Ypres League members, 85th Club, and St. Dunstaners.
The service commenced with the singing of the hymn, O Valiant Hearts," played
by the band of the ist Surrey Rifles. The great gathering stood bareheaded and silent
while the Rev. P. B. Clayton, M.C., founder of Toe H, reminded them of the price
that was paid for victory. He said
We are here to-day to give thanks to God. Seventeen years ago a few men held a Gate and
because they held that Gate the star of England did not fall for ever.
"No words can pay that debt of deeds, and we who gather to lay a wreath once more upon the
Cenotaph know that they laid their lives upon the altar of duty.
We gather on this marvellous day, thanks to God for his goodness and thanks to God that we
can be still nearer together as years go by. We praise God that it is possible for our Old Chief to be
here again among us.
Secondly, we come to-day with deep reverence to do homage to the men, those battered men and
indomitable, who stood between a proud and determined enemy of overwhelming numbers and the
dominion of the world. Those men were truly upheld by God. They fought the good fight they
finished their course they kept the faith of natures, and it is their supreme fidelity, their golden deeds
that we are honouring on this autumn afternoon.
One of the first óf the men I met on a certain road in the Salient had lain out for four days.
I said to him when finding him in hospital Did you feel God had left you He said No sir, of
course not.' I said to him You are a religious man.' He said X think religion is good for a
chap.'' Thè splendid simplicity of it We are here to remember that comrade. Last year at the
Ypres league Parade I walked towards the Cenotaph with two of my old friends who had one eye
between them. They had two arms between the two of them and two and a half feet and that is all,
and the one with the eye stood all the time interpreting to the other what was happening. He told
him everything as it happened wonderfully, and I listened to their conversation as they stood there
magnificently splendid.
Only this week we had a party of them up on Tower Hill, and when we came to sing Pack
up your Troubles,' two called out (both of them broken men) We ain't got no troubles.' Is that
not the spirit We come here, therefore, to do honour to them, an army of occupation for the dead,
a living link between us now and always.
There is but one man here who more than any other has gone right onwards steadily, and has
always, always loved, always remembered them, and that man is Lord Plumer, our own Old Chief.
There is no man among us who has stood in utter fidelity to them as he. And so we ourselves have
come to say not only We are sorry, but we will dry up the mud and blood in which they fell. They
point to us like stars. Their sacrifice is a great legacy, their example a great inspiration.'
My beloved brethren, be ye sober, indomitable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for
such as ye know that your labour is not in vain."
The whole concourse then joined in the Lord's Prayer.
Following the address, the Pipers of the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards who had
made a special journey from Windsor, played The Lament," then the Last Post
was sounded by the buglers, after which the hymn, O God, our help in ages past," the
National Anthem, and Réveille."
At the conclusion of the service the whole parade marched to the Cenotaph, where
Princess Beatrice, after taking the salute at the Horse Guards Arch, laid the Ypres
League wreath, which was borne by two recipients of the Victoria Cross, Lieut. W. A.
White (late M.G.C.), and Sergt. 0. Brooks (late Coldstream Guards).
