Advertisement
Published: August 4th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Tyne Cot
Memorial to New Zealand soldiers. Sunday 2 August 2015
During this trip we have spent time at various World War One memorials and cemeteries. It seems that many other people share this need to try and appreciate the enormity of the sacrifice made by a generation of young men, their families and their countries. Always there are people walking quietly, looking at row on row of headstones, perhaps seeking a particular name.
Today we will leave Belgium, but will first make a visit to Tyne Cot, a very large Commonwealth WW l cemetery near Ypres. Our other planned stop is the much smaller Trois Arbres Cemetery just over the border and into France.
We have enjoyed Belgium very much and on this sunny morning it's good to drive through the productive countryside, taking smaller and smaller country roads as Polly tries to help us reach Tyne Cot. Perhaps she is directing us to the back entrance, as the tiny lanes become almost too narrow for one car, and we cross fingers no vehicle comes towards us. Finally, destination is reached and we notice two other cars in the carpark also sporting the red registration plates that denote a lease car driven by a
Tyne Cot
Memorial to the missing. non EU driver. Chances are they will be driven by New Zealanders or Australians. We may even hear a familiar accent in this place.
Tyne Cot is almost overwhelming as you try to take in the sheer numbers of Allied graves as well as the many names of those who have no known resting place. A large number of NZ soldiers lie here, often grouped together among allies from other Commonwealth countries. Imagine nearly 12,000 headstones, over 8,000 bearing no name. It is quite staggering to see this result of the Battle of Passchendale. As we walked and looked, along with many other visitors, a conversation was begun with a man wearing a hat with NZ printed on it. Sure enough, the NZ accent was unmistakable and soon talk of home was happening. Hard to believe, but this couple have links with some of our family and neighbours in NZ. We live in such a tiny country!
After a brief lunch in Ypres we continued our journey, crossing the border into France almost imperceptibly, except that suddenly all the signs were in French, which we find much easier to decipher than Flemish. Perhaps we need more time in
Tyne Cot
A very small section of the cemetery. Belgium to practise.
Our next stop was approaching and we checked we had the necessary items at hand. An uncle perished in July 1917 near the location of Trois Arbres Cemetery and is buried there alongside several other NZ soldiers. We have brought a piece of Central Otago schist rock to place by his headstone, along with a poppy. Perhaps some younger family members will come here one day and see this small piece of home in the French soil of this grave. The immaculately kept flower bed had a little bare soil available, so with the help of a spoon and fork from our travelling kitchen kit we managed to make a resting place for the little rock. Job done.
The final part of today's journey took us to Arras and a good night's sleep after quite an emotional day.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.336s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 46; dbt: 0.1218s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb