During the First World War my Grandfather Edmund Adams was killed in the Flanders area and although his body was never found he is commemorated on a memorial near the small town of Ploegsteert which is on the France Belgium border.
A second purpose was to visit a family in Belgium with which my father had become friendly with during the Second War.

It is only when you visit the battlefield areas, that the enormous loss of life which took place is brought to attention.

Our most recent trip was in April 2008 and was arranged to coincide with the ninetieth anniversary of my grandfather's death on 15th April 1918.

We sailed overnight from Hull to Zeebrugge and drove to St Truiden, stopping at Brugge and Leuven. These stops allowed us to savour the buildings and sample a little of the local life. Like most towns in these countries they have big market squares surrounded by grand buildings and cafes.
While we were in St Truiden we toured the local area and met many family members in Belgium and Holland.

Then it was on to Ieper and the more sombre part of our trip, Ieper itself is a very pleasant town, again with an imposing square which had to be rebuilt following the war years.
An essential part of visiting this town is attending the nightly sounding of the Last Post.

Every evening at 8pm, a short service of commemoration is held at The Menin Gate, and members of the local fire service sound The Last Post. It for me is one of the things never to be forgotten as the memorial itself is inscribed with almost 55,000 names of servicemen from all over the world who died in the conflict and were never     Last Post Audio      found, and coupled with the sound of the bugles and the hundreds of people there, it is moving indeed.

The memorial we had come to visit is "Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing and Berks Corner Cemetery Extension"
It is a circular temple with pillars guarded by two lions, one snarling in defiance whilst the other gazes serenely into the distance. The memorial contains names from those missing from the battles of Armentieres, Aubers Ridge 1914, Loos, Fromelles 1915, Estaires 1916, Hazebrouck, Scherpenberg, and Outtersteene Ridge 1818, in all 11,447 men, are listed on the panels within the colonnade. Over 380 men also lie in the adjoining cemetery.

We also visited Tyne Cot Cemetery close to Ieper where another family member is commemorated, and it too is just a sea of almost 12,000 white Portland Stone memorials.

All these cemeteries are maintained to an unbelievably high standard by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the origins of which go back to 1914, and for that I and many other people are eternally grateful.

If you do travel to this area I can highly recommend the B&B we stayed in at Ieper, the host Andre is very helpful and the accommodation is to a very high standard. To view his WWW just click on this link. B&B Hortensia