In Flanders Fields

Last Friday we visited Ypres in Flanders, Belgium. Our first visit was to the 'In Flanders Fields' Museum which was a history of WWI and the involvement of Belgium. Along with most towns in Belgium, Ypres was almost totally destroyed and the countryside became the battleground. The Belgian forces were very under developed and their initial encounters were on their bicycles!!

The museum is in the old Cloth Hall which was rebuilt to the original after the war.

The afternoon was spent visiting memorials and cemeteries around Ypres which is dotted with Commonwealth cemeteries - even in the middle of fields. 

A German cemetery where 44,000 are buried including mass graves of unidentified soldiers. 

Tyne Cot Cemetery - the largest Commonwealth War Cemetery. We found the graves of two Australians who received the Victoria Cross. 

Polygon Wood Cemetery which also has a memorial to the Australian 5th Battalion. 

We then headed back to Ypres for the 8.00pm ceremony at the Menin Gate. The Gate has the names of thousands of soldiers who have no known resting place. Each evening the Last Post is played by the bugler and wreaths laid.