We stopped at a small Belgian store to conduct resupply of
towels, as the hostel we are staying in doesn't provide them. The Belgian locals obviously saw us coming with binoculars and thought 22 euros for two seemed like a fair price.
1900
Head back to Ieper and establish a temporary base at an outside bar. A pot of mussels is devoured, washed down by a couple of top-notch Belgian beers. The weather is beautiful and we feel a million miles away from the horrors of the war that we came to explore.
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2000
Brought back to earth by a stunning ceremony at Menin Gate. Every night they stop the traffic and the
local fire brigade play The Last
Post. We expected a handful of observers but instead a crowd of about 500 gathered. The walls of the huge sandstone gate are crowded with the names of allied soldiers for whom no body was identified: some 55 thousand.
An announcer told the story of an individual who was killed on that day, as they are doing for every day of the year and as everyone stood in silence between The Last Post and The Reveille you felt a mix of sadness about it all and a pride that so many people are making the effort to remember the horrors of almost 90 years ago.
After the ceremony we discover even more names in the side alcoves including huge numbers of Australians. We also discover the excellent
Australian war plaque
that described the context of the losses.
Some of us also meet two of the fire brigade buglers. They stand proudly in their uniforms, one wearing the Order of Australia medal
awarded a couple of years ago and who John Howard
met a few weeks prior. CPL Jackson and CPL Henderson appreciate the chance to thank them for what they do.
