Bill's Aviation Log

Looking down the street to the Market Square where we parked.

Down and across the street was the St. Martin's Cathedral -- pictured here on the left and the Cloth Hall -- home to the In Flanders Fields Museum -- on the right.

Construction started on the church in 1230, and was finished in 1370. There had previously been a Romanesque church in the area, dating from the 10th or 11th century. After the Concordat of 1801 between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, Ypres was incorporated into the diocese of Ghent, and Saint Martin's lost its status as a cathedral. As with many former cathedrals, it is often still referred to as a cathedral by locals. It was heavily damaged during the First World War. Subsequently (1922–1930) the ruin was cleared and the church was entirely rebuilt following the original plans, although the tower was built with a higher spire than the original.

The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing is dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves are unknown. The memorial is located at the eastern exit of the town and marks the starting point for one of the main roads that led Allied soldiers to the front line.

The Menin Gate Memorial was unveiled on 24 July 1927. The renovation is expected to be completed in time for the memorial's centenary in 2027.

The lion is the symbol of Ypres. Two stone lions stood at the gate before and during the war.

This lion is a replica of the original Menin gate lion. In 1936, the city of Ypres presented the original war damaged lions, each holding a coat of arms, as a gift to the Australian people. Thousands of Australian soldiers marched between the lions on their way to the Ypres salient in 1917. More than 13,000 Australians died on Belgian soil fighting for Belgian's freedom. The Australian government restored the war-damaged lions, and since 1991 they have graced the entrance to the Austrailian War Memorial at Canberra. The replica lions are perfect copies of the original, made in Belgium using the same stone as the original and carved by Belgian stonemasons.

British and Commonwealth soldiers often passed through the Menenpoort on their way to the front lines with some 300,000 of them being killed in the Ypres Salient. 90,000 of these soldiers have no known graves.

Every evening at 8pm, buglars pay their respect to the missing men of WWI.

Ypres after the war.

On January 28, 1918, while still commanding No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) at Boulogne, McCrae died of pneumonia with "extensive pneumococcus meningitis" at the British General Hospital in Wimereux, France.

These were concrete dug-outs were built into the canal bank north of Ypres in late 1916 and served as advanced dressing stations. McCrae was stationed here and this is where he wrote the famous poem "In Flanders Fields".

June 29, 2023 - Belgium Ypres
Leaving Dunkirk first thing in the morning, we were headed to Waterloo and then Brussels. But first we were going to check out Ypres, a small area that the Germans and Allies suffered as many as one million casualties fighting over during World War One.

We drove into the downtown Ypres market square to check out the Ypres War Victims Monument. It is dedicated to the 155 named civilian and military victims from Ypres who died as a result of the 1914-1918 war. There are also 21 names on two plaques dedicated to the later victims who died during the Second World War when Ypres was occupied by German Forces from 1940-1945.

Looking down the street to the Market Square where we parked.

Down and across the street was the St. Martin's Cathedral -- pictured here on the left and the Cloth Hall -- home to the In Flanders Fields Museum -- on the right. Construction started on the church in 1230, and was finished in 1370. There had previously been a Romanesque church in the area, dating from the 10th or 11th century. After the Concordat of 1801 between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, Ypres was incorporated into the diocese of Ghent, and Saint Martin's lost its status as a cathedral. As with many former cathedrals, it is often still referred to as a cathedral by locals. It was heavily damaged during the First World War. Subsequently (1922–1930) the ruin was cleared and the church was entirely rebuilt following the original plans, although the tower was built with a higher spire than the original.

A closer look at the massive Cloth Hall, where the In Flanders Fields Museum resides. I didn't know a big World War One museum was across the street or we might have toured it. It was probably a good thing we didn't know about it because our plate was full today. The Cloth Hall was a medieval commercial building, in Ypres, Belgium. The original structure was erected mainly between 1200 and 1304, in the Gothic style. It was one of the largest commercial buildings of the Middle Ages, when it served as the main market and warehouse for the Flemish city's prosperous cloth industry. The hall lay in ruins after artillery fire devastated Ypres in World War I. Between 1933 and 1967, it was meticulously reconstructed to its prewar condition.

The Claustrum St. Martini gate on the left.

Then we drove over to the Menin Gate. Which, unfortunately for us, is under renovation and is covered with the dreaded scaffolding. The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing is dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves are unknown. The memorial is located at the eastern exit of the town and marks the starting point for one of the main roads that led Allied soldiers to the front line. The Menin Gate Memorial was unveiled on 24 July 1927. The renovation is expected to be completed in time for the memorial's centenary in 2027.

The lion is the symbol of Ypres. Two stone lions stood at the gate before and during the war. This lion is a replica of the original Menin gate lion. In 1936, the city of Ypres presented the original war damaged lions, each holding a coat of arms, as a gift to the Australian people. Thousands of Australian soldiers marched between the lions on their way to the Ypres salient in 1917. More than 13,000 Australians died on Belgian soil fighting for Belgian's freedom. The Australian government restored the war-damaged lions, and since 1991 they have graced the entrance to the Austrailian War Memorial at Canberra. The replica lions are perfect copies of the original, made in Belgium using the same stone as the original and carved by Belgian stonemasons.

Ypres occupied a strategic position during the First World War because it stood in the path of Germany's planned sweep across the rest of Belgium, as had been called for in the Schlieffen Plan. The importance of the town is reflected in the five major battles that occurred around it during the war. During the First Battle of Ypres the Allies halted the German Army's advance to the east of the city. The German army eventually surrounded the city on three sides, bombarding it throughout much of the war. The Second Battle of Ypres marked a second German attempt to take the city in April 1915. The third battle is more commonly referred to as Passchendaele, but this 1917 battle was a complex five-month engagement. The fourth and fifth battles occurred during 1918. Poppies are the symbol of the First World War, which was such a catastrophe for the human race.

British and Commonwealth soldiers often passed through the Menenpoort on their way to the front lines with some 300,000 of them being killed in the Ypres Salient. 90,000 of these soldiers have no known graves. Every evening at 8pm, buglars pay their respect to the missing men of WWI.

The Kasteelgraght River runs by Menin Gate.

Its large Hall of Memory contains names on stone panels of 54,395 Commonwealth soldiers who died in the Salient but whose bodies have never been identified or found. On completion of the memorial, it was discovered to be too small to contain all the names as originally planned. An arbitrary cut-off point of 15 August 1917 was chosen and the names of 34,984 UK missing after this date were inscribed on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing instead. Looking at the gate from the side. You can see the engraved names on the other side of thecolumns.

There were placards and images on the side. This is an artists rendition of Ypres during World War One. That is what is left of the Kasteelgraght River.

Ypres after the war.

Menin Gate opening ceremony in 1927.

The Hall of Memory.

From downtown Ypres we drove a short distance north of town to the Essex Farm Cemetery where Major John McCrae composed his famous poem In Flanders Fields.

John McCrae was a Canadian doctor and also an artillery officer who volunteered for service in WWI at age 41. He wrote a friend, "I am really rather afraid, but more afraid to stay at home with my conscience." He was appointed as Medical Officer and Major of the 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. He treated the wounded during the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915, from a hastily dug 8-by-8-foot bunker in the back of the dyke along the Yser Canal about 2 miles north of Ypres. McCrae's friend and former militia member, Lt. Alexis Helmer, was killed in the battle, and his burial inspired the poem, "In Flanders Fields", which was written on May 3, 1915.

The famous poem: In Flanders Fields.

On January 28, 1918, while still commanding No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) at Boulogne, McCrae died of pneumonia with "extensive pneumococcus meningitis" at the British General Hospital in Wimereux, France. These were concrete dug-outs were built into the canal bank north of Ypres in late 1916 and served as advanced dressing stations. McCrae was stationed here and this is where he wrote the famous poem "In Flanders Fields".

The hardstone obelisk on top of the canal bank was erected in memory of the dead from the 49th (West Riding) Division. This was a territorial division whose units were all originally from Yorkshire. The 49th Division had suffered losses of over 9,500 by the end of the war. 67 of them are buried here in Essex Farm Cemetery. The obelisk was unveiled on 22 June 1924. The cemetery was completed in 1925.

The colorful British cemetery.








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June 29, 2023 - Belgium Ypres

June 29, 2023 - Belgium
Ypres