Postcards from Emily and Gloria
Heart of Belgium and Holland in 11 Days
Departing from Ghent in the morning, today we set out southwest towards the Flanders Field American Cemetery in Waregem (pronounced warr-eh-hem). The cemetery is technically United States property, and looked after by the American Battle Monuments Commission; the same organization that oversees such other famous burial places as the American cemetery in Normandy. We met our guide there, who's name I am very sad to say I didn't write down at the time, but she was a knowledgeable young lady who had clear passion for her work, and told us several very touching stories about the residents of the cemetery that she looks after.
One of the most famous stories she told us - although the author is not buried in Flanders Field - was of Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, M.D. who wrote the famous poem "In Flanders Fields". She recited the poem to us, and there were very few left with dry eyes by the end. One of the things that I did not realize before visiting was, as our guide told us, World War I and the tragedies that happened then are still very much remembered by the Belgian people, and there are many families that "adopt" graves to help take care of during the year. Schoolchildren will even come on Memorial Day to leave flowers on the headstones, in remembrance of the sacrifice these soldiers made.
The man who wrote the famous poem is honored here, but not buried in Belgium. I donated a few euro to the Commission in return for a paper Remembrance Poppy of my own. I feel very fortunate to have not experienced such tragedy in my lifetime.
The poppies you saw at the top are these that I painted in my journal!
Nico took a picture of us as we were listening to our guide's stories - I didn't take any selfies here, as it felt disrespectful.
Flanders Field
and surrounding towns
The entrance to the cemetery is unassuming, but the stories within are anything but.
We left Waregem, and the American Cemetery behind us, and continued our journey with a second stop at the German Cemetery - Langemark. Although receiving fewer visitors than the American or Commonwealth Cemeteries, Langemark still receives care and respect. Here our guide told us about the use of gas during World War I, and how brutal the warfare was for soldiers and civilians alike. As the last line on the sign to the left says:
"The dead buried in this cemetery are a reminder of how
precious peace is."
The cemetery was quiet except for our group, and the silence along with the beautiful weather really contrasted with the horrors of war that our guide described to us. Here you can see the remnants of a German front-line bunker that was incorporated into the cemetery grounds.
The aesthetic of the German memorials we have seen on our travels is notably different to the aesthetic of American or Commonwealth memorials. However, our guide told us that there is no known symbolic reasoning behind that, simply that the dark stone and groupings of three crosses were the design chosen by the German War Graves Commission.
For a break from the solemnity of today's visits, lunch was a family-style meal at a bed and breakfast between Langemark and the towns of Passchendaele (pronounced passion-dale) and Ypres (pronounced ee-purr). Varlet Farm is a perfect example of how World War I, while we feel like it was so long ago, is still effecting the lives of people who live here. The owner and son of the original farmer was present for our lunch, and told us that they still find things in the fields that are from the war. Across from the main building, he'd even built a small "museum" of the items they'd pulled from the fields over the years. One of the highlights of lunch was the local Passchendaele cheese that was made only a few kilometers away.
We had a family-style, almost picnic, lunch at Varlet Farm, with DIY sandwiches, fruit, and small pastries. One of mine and Mom's favorites was the Passchendaele cheese with a bit of apricot jam.
As you can see on the right, even the butter is made fairly close to here, in Bruges (Brugge).
Behind this building where we had lunch are the fields that were once a battleground, and still produce artifacts to this day. Across the little courtyard was the collection of items they had found over the years.
The jam below was made by the owner's wife! It tasted amazing with the local cheese.
We had two more stops after lunch on our way to Bruges. The first was Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial: the largest Commonwealth cemetery from World War I. I found this to be the most beautiful of the cemeteries we visited today, because the arching rows of headstones all converged on a central point: the Cross of Sacrifice. Moreso than it's American counterpart, the headstones here felt more personal, as each bore a crest of where that soldier was from, or what unit they served in, if such information was known.
The second was Hill 62; so named because it was 62 meters above sea level. This place, also known as Sanctuary Wood, is a memorial to the Canadian Corps who defended the town of Ypres from this position. It's hard to imagine spending your days in the trenches, deep in water and mud, cold and afraid. This is one of the only sites where original trenches are preserved so that they appear to us now very much like they would have to soldiers in 1916, only much more peaceful.
We can truly say that the whole circuit of the Earth is girdled with the graves of our dead. In the course of my pilgrimage, I have many times asked myself whether there can be more potent advocates of peace upon Earth through the years to come, than this massed multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war.
— King George V, 11 May 1922
There are 4 German graves here among those of the Commonwealth, as they were injured and being treated when the sight was being used to dress wounds after the battle. On the left, you can see a wreath among the others, honoring those men.
On the right, you can see an example of the kind of decoration the Commonwealth chose for their stones. These two, one of whom is unidentified, were from the West Yorkshire Regiment, and their stones bear the crest of the unit they fought with.
The preserved trenches were originally built in these almost serpentine patterns to avoid giving enemy fire clear sight lines on the troops sheltered within.
The entrance to the Museum part of the memorial is located along a fairly idyllic roadside that is hard to imagine being part of such a terrible warzone. Inside, they have probably thousands of pieces dating from WWI, including weapons and uniforms from both sides. There were these little boxes you could look into that when you turned a handle, it would rotate between 3D pictures made from photos taken during the war.
I managed to attach the book of poems from the American cemetery to my journal intact, so that I could read every page within while we were on the bus heading to Bruges.
Although today's locations were not what you might expect as traditional sightseeing spots, but they were beautiful in their own quiet way. They offer to remind all of us of the value of peace, and the true cost of war. Not money or property, but human lives. With plenty to consider, we again boarded our bus to carry on down the road towards the final destination of the day; our next city, Bruges.
TRAVEL TIP
Be open to visiting sites that you might not normally visit on your own. A good tour guide can bring them alive in an interesting way, and we can learn a lot from historical sites such as these!