Royal Canadian Legion

Royal Canadian Legion Europe Events
29 October to 11 November 2001

On Monday 29 October 2001 the Zone Commander and a group of members from Branch 002 in Lahr departed for Ypres, Belgium where accommodations were arranged in a Military Barracks. Over the next week we would take part in Ceremonies in Belgium, The Netherlands and France. We arrived in Ypres at approximately 1500 hours got checked in to our rooms and went back into town and had supper then we wandered around the town until 2000 hours and went to the Menin Gate to watch the buglers perform the Last Post Ceremony.

The Menin Gate is not a memorial tucked away in some remote part of the town, remembered now and then. The Menin Road is still an important thoroughfare where traffic and pedestrians pass under the gate as part of the daily life of Ypres. In this aspect alone, Remembrance is kept very much alive in Ypres. Every night at exactly 8 PM two policemen halt the traffic that usually roars through the Menin Gate. As silence falls two uniformed members of the local fire brigade step out into the roadway beneath the eastern archway of the gate. They sound the Last Post on gleaming silver bugles. On special occasions there are four or more buglers. The bugles were presented as a gift from the Surrey Branch of the Royal British Legion in the 1930's. In addition an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who served with the 10th Battery, of St. Catharines, Ontario, in Ypres in April 1915, also presented two silver trumpets for use in the ceremony as a gift to the Ypres Last Post Committee. The Last Post Ceremony has been held nightly since 11 November 1920 except for a break between 20 May 1940 and 6 September 1944 when Ypres was occupied by the Germans during the second world war. When the Germans left Ypres the plaintive notes of the Last Post rang out under the Menin Gate that same evening.

Part of the speech of Lord Plumer of Messines at the unveiling of the Menin Gate, 1927

"One of the most tragic features of any war is the number of casualties reported as, "missing, believed killed." To their relatives there must have been added to their grief a tinge of bitterness and a feeling that everything possible had not been done to recover their loved ones' bodies and give them reverent burial.

When peace came, and the last ray of hope had been extinguished, the void seemed deeper and the outlook more forlorn for those who had no grave to visit, no place where they could lay tokens of loving remembrance. It was resolved that here at Ypres, where so many of the missing are known to have fallen, there should be erected a memorial worthy of them which should give expression to the nation's gratitude for their sacrifice and their sympathy with those who mourned them. A memorial has been erected which, in its simple grandeur, fulfils this object, and now it can be said of each one in whose honour we are assembled here today"

"He is not missing; he is here!"

Tuesday 30 October was basically had a free day so we visited the museum in Cloth Hall. Back to the Menin Gate where the Arch commemorates, by name, nearly 55,000 dead of the armies of the British Commonwealth who fell in Belgium during the First World War, most of them in the Ypres Salient, but whose final resting-place is known only unto God. Of these 6,940 are Canadians.

We then drove to Passchendaele to the Canadian Memorial where the slopes overlook the peaceful fields that today carpet the valley of the Ravebeek, this Canadian Battlefield Memorial marks the site of Crest Farm, where Canadian soldiers encountered some of the fiercest resistance they were to meet during the war. A large block of Canadian granite set in a grove of maple trees and encircled with a low hedge of holly carries the inscription: The Canadian Corps in October and November 1917 advanced across this valley then a treacherous morass captured and held the Passchendaele Ridge.

Next we visited the Tyne Cot Memorial and Cemetery. The Tyne Cot Memorial forms the northeastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which is situated between Passchendaele (now known as Passendale) and Zonnebeke. The name "Tyne Cottages" or "Tyne Cotts" was given by the Northumberland Fusiliers to a group of German blockhouses, or pillboxes, situated near the level crossing on the Passchendaele to Broodseinde road. Three of these blockhouses still stand in the cemetery. The largest, which was captured on 4 October 1917 by the 3rd Australian Division, was chosen as the site for the Cross of Sacrifice by King George V during his pilgrimage to the cemeteries of the Western Front in Belgium and France in 1922.

The Tyne Cot Cemetery is now the resting-place of nearly 12,000 soldiers of the Commonwealth Forces, the largest number of burials of any Commonwealth cemetery of either world war. It first came into being in October 1917 when one of the captured pillboxes was used as an Advanced Dressing Station, resulting in some 350 burials between then and the end of March 1918. The cemetery was much enlarged after the Armistice by the concentration of more than 11,500 graves from the battlefields of Passchendaele and Langemarck and from a few small burial grounds. The dates of death cover the four years from October 1914 to September 1918 inclusive. Unnamed graves in the cemetery number nearly 8,400, or 70% of the total, and the names of the unidentified soldiers who lie in them are inscribed on the Menin Gate and on the panels of the Memorial which stands to the rear of the cemetery. The site of the Memorial is on high ground on the western slopes of the Passchendaele Ridge, from which the whole country to the English Channel lies open. It is in the middle of an agricultural district, with widely scattered farms and small villages. It represents the most desperate offensive fighting of the Commonwealth Armies in Belgium, as Ypres represents their most stubborn resistance, and it stands close to the farthest point in Belgium reached by Commonwealth arms in the First World War until the final advance to victory.

The Memorial, is a semicircular flint wall 4.25 metres high and more than 150 metres long, faced with panels of Portland stone on which are carved nearly 35,000 names of those who have no known grave. There are three apses and two rotundas. The central apse forms the New Zealand Memorial and bears the names of nearly 1,200 officers and men who gave their lives in the Battle of Broodseinde and in the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) in October 1917. The other two, as well as the rotundas and the wall itself, carry the names of United Kingdom dead who fell in the Salient between the 15 August 1917, when the Battle of Langemarck began, and the Armistice, in the Third and Fourth Battles of Ypres. Two domed arched pavilions mark the ends of the main wall, each dome being surmounted by a winged female figure with head bowed over a wreath.

Next we visited a private museum in Sanctuary Wood. Originally this area was a German hospital area hence the name, later it became part of the front line area and after the war the farmer that owned the land returned and preserved the area containing the massive trenched and fortified area as it had been during the war. The museum displays many of the weapons, artillery pieces and many pictures showing the devastation caused by the fierce fighting during the war years. We returned to Ypres where we had supper and again went to the Menin Gate to watch the Last Post Ceremony. After the ceremony we stopped by the Royal British Legion which is located in the courtyard of St. George's Church.

St. George's Church has a rather different background, but an equally moving one. Constructed after the war in order to provide a place of worship for the many English families, whose men were working on the cemeteries and memorials, it soon became a memorial in itself. Brass plaques representing famous British Regiments line the walls and almost every article of furniture has been contributed by those who had a special reason for remembering Ypres. Inside the always-open door there is the following inscription:

YOU WHO WOULD ENTER HERE
TO WORSHIP GOD, THINK OF
YOUR BROTHERS WHO BEFORE
YOU TROD THIS HALLOWED
GROUND, AND DID NOT GRUDGE
TO GIVE THEIR LIVES IN WAR
THAT YOU IN PEACE MAY LIVE
ASK FOR A HEART TO FOLLOW
IN THEIR WAY OF SACRIFICE
AND DUTY-REST AND PRAY

The Canadian contributions include the fine paneling around the altar, which was the gift of the Army Garrison at London, Ontario. As well plaques given by the Canadian Machine Gun Corps and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry; and a stained glass window dedicated to British and Canadian airmen who perished defending the Ypres Salient. Today, St. George's is still a place of worship for Protestants living in Ypres, but the parishioners are not so many now and the church depends largely on donations from those whose memories of Ypres are still fresh.

Wednesday 31 October we went back to Passchendaele where at 1030 hours we paraded with our Colour Party to the dedication of a new monument in honour of the men of the 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion, Nova Scotia Highlanders who fell in the battle for Passchendaele. In 1998 we made a trip to the old monument which was weather beaten and in pretty bad shape. Pictures were taken and the Zone Commander sent the pictures along with a detailed description of the monument's condition. At the Legion Convention in Halifax in the summer of 2000 the Highlanders had a booth set up collecting money to have a new monument built which this year with the assistance of the Belgium Army Engineers the new monument was erected an re-dedicated. The ceremony included an Honour Guard from the Nova Scotia Highlanders, a band, dignitaries from Belgium and Canada and our Legion Colour Party.

The Old Monument
Erected in the 1920's

Later the Memorial was
put on a Foundation

The Memorial was Replaced
31 October 2001

It was our honour in October of 1997 to have been able to attend the ceremony at the Menin Gate as the Mayor of Ypres declared the 20,000 times that the bugle calls had taken place and had also declared that they should continue for another 20,000 calls. This year on Wednesday 31 October 2001 at 2000 hours we were again honoured as we attended the dedication that marked the 25,000 bugle calls. Unfortunately the ceremony had little to do with Veterans. Since there was Royalty present at the ceremony the Military was front and center with bands, honour guards provided by the British, a guard from the Canadian Lincoln & Welland Regiment and the Nova Scotia Highlanders.

On Thursday 01 November we left Ypres and traveled to Knokke-Heist the actual date of the liberation of the city where we met with a group of city officials and at 1100 hours we laid a wreath at the Resistance Monument in a small but rather touching ceremony. While in Knokke we visited Canada Square and the main city War Memorial where on the 3 November they have their official ceremony in conjunction with an annual march.

The first fighting in Belgium began in early September but it became "A Long Way to Knokke" for the Canadians. The speed of the Canadian advancement must be viewed with amazement and admiration considering they conquered Dieppe on the 1st of September and on the 8th of September the coastal city of Ostend fell into their hands and they were on the Bruges.

They had hundreds of triumphant kilometers behind them, all in eight days! Almost everyone thought that the liberation of the Belgium coast from Ostend to the extreme part of Knokke near the Dutch border would be only a matter of hours since Knokke is roughly only twenty kilometers from Bruges. The city of Bruges did not suffer any war damage and was liberated on 12th September 1944.

Who would have thought the Canadians would have to make a long detour over Maldegem, Boekhoute, Zelzate and Terneuzen? It became a long tough struggle until the 1st of November before they could march into the little part of West Flanders Knokke and not from the west as expected but from the east and finally destroyed the last German entrenchment near the floodgates to the sea near Zeebruges.

On All Saints Day 1944, the 9th Brigade entered Knokke with the 8th Brigade on the south flank. The North Nova Scotia Highlanders captured Major General Eberding Commander of the German 64th Infantry Division in a concrete pillbox on the golf course at Het Zoute. The North Shore New Brunswick Regiment captured Sluis and Stint Anna ter Muiden. The 3rd Anti Tank Regiment, RCA captured Oostkerke and the Queen's Own Rifles captured Westkapelle.

Two days later on 3 November the very last German defenses were destroyed near Zeebruges. In this part of Flanders the last German white flags were hoisted over the drowned Flemish Region. On 3 November at 0950 the last German resistance on the coastline was broken.

Iris, Daniel Van Landschoot and their two lovely children Elke and Michiel met us in Knokke. They met us also in Ypres, actually they meet us everywhere and look after us extremely well. They invited us to their home in Sint-Laureins, Belgium and on the way we drove the short distance into the Netherlands to visit a memorial dedicated to the Royal Canadian Engineers at a dike in a town called Retranchement. The description on the plaque describes the action "After the offensive of the Westerschelde the Canadians fought an exhaustive battle in the Polders of Zeeuwsch-Vlaamse and along the dikes in the direction of the Belgium Border and Knokke-Heist at the end of October 1944. The Royal Canadian Engineers under the leadership of Sgt. J.L. Hackman reached the drainage Canal at Retranchement. Under heavy shellfire they erected a Bailey Bridge on this site on 31 October 1944 where Sgt. Hickman was mortally wounded. In tribute to him and his comrades this bridge was dedicated in his name on 30 October 1986. This simple monument was adopted by the children of the local school".

We next drove to Hoofdplaat where there is a Canadian monument on the Sheldt Estuary dedicated to units of the 9th Infantry Brigade who landed there in October 1944. Basically what happened was on 8 October Lieutenant Commander (RN) Franks led a surprise amphibious assault with the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade, which consisted of the Highland Light Infantry, the Stormond Dundas & Glengary Highlanders and the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. They came in through Holland and approached from the West Scheldt. They came in from Terneuzen that had been liberated on 20 September. This approach caught the Germans by surprise, the North Nova Scotia Highlanders captured 9 Germans in dugouts on the beach. On Amber Beach the Buffalo's (landing crafts) of the Highland Light Infantry bogged down in the mud. The Buffalo's returned to Terneuzen to pick up the Stormond Dundas & Glengary Highlanders plus heavy mortars and machine guns of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa. They landed at Green Beech at the Dutch village of Biervliet and moved on to Hoofdplaat by 1030 hours. By 10 October there was continual artillery fire as the enemy fought back. The Highland Light Infantry was continually attacked, also Hoofdplaat was well defended as the Stormont Dundas & Glengary Highlanders lost 17 dead and 44 wounded in the two days of battle. The North Nova Scotia Highlanders took three days and 50 casualties in the taking of Driewegen. This action, however, eased the pressure on the bridgehead at Strobrugge.

On the way back to Sint-Laureins we stopped at another monument where on 20 October 1944 at a farm on Isabelleweg near the town of Ijzendijke, The Netherlands a horrific accidental explosion occurred. The explosion caused the death of forty-one British and Canadian soldiers and caused injury to another fifty-one some of which would be fatal. The majority of the soldiers present on that fateful day were from 204 Armoured Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers and soldiers of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps of the 7th Infantry Brigade. It is unclear what actually caused the initial explosion and since no official investigation was ever done the incident went basically unrecorded. Finally Lance Sergeant Charles Martin Reagan who was there as the Commander of a Churchill Tank in 3 Troop 284 Armoured Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers in October of 1944 decided to write his account of events which occurred on that sad day. His account is a tribute to the sacrifice of those who lost their lives, those who were wounded and those who survived with scars which cannot be seen, all deserve recognition and their efforts should be recorded. His story is recorded and can be read in the article IJzendijke Ceremony.

We arrived at the home of Iris & Daniel early in the afternoon where we had an excellent meal and relaxed for the afternoon. Daniel drove two of our members Jimmy Stewart and Lucien Perraut who had not been in this area before to the Canadian Museum and the Canadian War Cemetery in Adagem. That evening they escorted us to a Belgium Naval Station in Bruges where they had made arrangements for to stay overnight.

Early on Friday we left Bruges and traveled to Breskins, took the fairy across to Vlissingen on Walchenen Island and on to the Canadian War Cemetery at Bergen-Op-Zoom, The Netherlands. We provided a Colour Party for the Internment Ceremony of two Canadian Soldiers that died in the Netherlands while serving with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment during World War II. A reception was held after the ceremony at a location somewhere in the city of Bergen-Op-Zoom but unfortunately we lost the convoy at traffic lights and never did find the location. As it was getting late and we had a long drive ahead of us we left for Arras in France where we had accommodations arranged at a French Military Hotel in Arras. We arrived at approximately 1700 hours got straightened away and walked the short distance into the center of the city. We met with members from Branch 003 and went to supper at one of our favorite Italian restaurants. A short account of this tragic story can be read in the article Burgen-op-Zoom (Private Howie).

On Saturday 03 November was an early rise, had breakfast and drove to Beaumont-Hamel to provide a Colour Party and take part in the annual remembrance ceremony at the Newfoundland monument. A reception was held following the ceremony in the nearby village of Mailly-Mailet. Following the reception we went back to Beaumont-Hamel and the Zone Commander gave a battle field tour for members of our Colour Party who had never been in this area. Then it was on to the Irish monument of the battle of the Somme, which is the memorial to all soldiers of Ulster who died during the Great War. Then we stopped at the British memorial of Thiepval. The memorial is here to commemorate the English offensive of July 1916. It bears the names of the 73,000 British of the third armies that fell in the Somme from 1915 to March 1918 and who have no known grave. An imposing monument, visible for miles symbolizes the joint British and French army efforts in the battle of the Somme, but also in other theatre of operations in Asia and in Africa.

The cemetery that is attached to it contains 600 graves, half French, half British. They represent the million of dead of the British Empire and the even bigger losses of France and its colonies. It also contains burials of 10 Australian, 4 Canadian and a New Zealander.

Late in the afternoon we returned to the barracks in Arras changed went into the city for supper had a couple of beers and after a long day returned to the hotel for the night.

On Sunday 04 November we provided a Colour Party for the Remembrance Ceremony at Vimy Ridge. We finally had the day we always looked forward to at Vimy. The weather was warm, it was sunny and believe it or not there was no wind. Considering in past years we stood in snow, we stood there in the rain and often we had winds that would blow you off your feet. Below is a brief description of the battle that took place for Vimy Ridge.

In 1916 at Verdun and the Somme the casualty figures reached a toll of almost two million men. Yet this war of attrition and stalemate had two full years to run. Early in 1917 the Allies launched another massive offensive, ever determined to achieve the elusive breakthrough. This time the plans called for a French offensive in the south between Reims and Soissons, combined with British diversionary attacks about Arras.

The Germans, meanwhile, quietly withdrew to strong new defences, the Hindenburg Line. In so doing they exchanged a long, bulging line for a well-situated shorter one which they fortified with powerful modern devices. The Canadian share of the British assault was the seizure of Vimy Ridge. The task was formidable. For the Germans it was a vital key in their defence system and they had fortified it well. The slopes, which were in their favour, were interlaced with an elaborate system of trenches, dugouts and tunnels heavily protected by barbed wire and machine guns, and defended from a distance by German artillery. They had even installed electric lights, a telephone exchange, and a light railway to maintain supplies of ammunition. All previous attempts to take the Ridge had failed.

Canadian commanders, however, had learned well the bitter lessons of assault by vulnerable infantry. This time the preparation was elaborate and the planning thorough. Engineers dug great tunnels into the Ridge; roads and light railways were built; signals and supplies were ready. The operation was to be supported by a large concentration of heavy guns and howitzers, and full artillery. The men too were fully prepared. The area was simulated behind the lines and troops practiced their roles until every man was familiar with the ground and the tactics expected of him.

Preliminary bombardment, designed to conceal the exact time and extent of the attack, began on 20 March. It was intensified from 2 April with such crushing blows that the enemy called the period "the week of suffering". On the night of 8 April all was ready and the infantry moved to the prepared forward positions.

The attack began at dawn on Easter Monday, 9 April. All four divisions of the Canadian Corps - moving forward together for the first time - swept up the Ridge in the midst of driving wind, snow and sleet. Preceded by a perfectly timed artillery barrage the Canadians advanced. By mid-afternoon the Canadian Divisions were in command of the whole crest of the Ridge with the exception of two features known as Hill 145 and the Pimple. Three days later these too were taken.

The victory at Vimy Ridge is celebrated as a national coming of age. For the first time Canadians attacked together and triumphed together. Four Canadians won the Victoria Cross and King George V knighted Major-General Arthur Currie, commander of the 1st Division, on the battlefield.

Later in the summer the Canadian Corps received its first Canadian commander when Sir Arthur Currie was promoted to Lieutenant General and succeeded Sir Julian Byng. A businessman from British Columbia, Currie, with only Canadian Militia background, won the high esteem of professionals and rose from the rank of private to commander of the whole Canadian army corps. It was a remarkable achievement.

Following the ceremony a reception was held in the town of Vimy where we had a chance to meet and discuss old times with a few of the Canadian representatives, Comrades and friends. In particular Smokey Smith who is a delightful person to talk with and Canada's only living Victoria Cross winner. Wally Smith, Dominion Chairman, who was there representing our Dominion President and Dominion Command. Dale Lamoureux who was representing the National Aboriginal Veterans Association but as always the event was soon over and we had to depart.

When Wally got home he sent a nice letter to the Zone Commander acknowledging our presence at these ceremonies. I would like to share a couple of paragraphs with you since we have in the past sometimes bitched about whether anyone knows if we are there or not.

"I do want to thank you and your Zone Colour Party for being there and showing the Legion Flag (Banners). I don't recall seeing representatives from other Veterans organizations, so I think that is a plus for the Royal Canadian Legion.

Your presence at the 85th Battalion Memorial Re-dedication, at Ypres, at the Internment Services for the Links and Winks Privates Beaudry and Barritt and then at Vimy gave my morale a boost and made me very proud of our R.C.L. Zone Germany.

Please thank all the members of your Colour Party and extend my very best wishes and thanks to each and every one of them".

On Monday 05 November after a long week was a travel day home.

On Saturday 10 November the Zone Commander and Deputy Zone Commander once again traveled to Ypres to attend and lay a wreath on behalf of Canada on the 11 November at the annual Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Menin Gate.

The ceremony commenced with a church service at St. George's Church after which the procession marched to the Menin Gate. The ceremony was well attended by dignitaries, Veterans, Bands, Honour Guards, Colour Party from the Royal British Legion and many spectators. The highlight of the ceremony had to be the Act of Remembrance recited by a 106-year-old Veteran of the First World War as thousands of poppies floated down from the three openings in the ceiling of the structure. Following the ceremony we were met by Iris & Daniel Van Landschoot and family and Steve Douglas of the Maple Leaf Legacy Project. We first went to the Royal British Legion but it was so packed that there wasen't even standing room so we went to a local pub for a couple of delightful hours. It would have been nice to spend more time with our friends but the Zone Commander had duties to preform at Branch 003 in Geilenkirchen.

Bidding farewell to our friends until next year we left Ypres at approximately 1500 hours and drove to Geilenkirchen to visit Branch 003 where we met two of our Dutch friends Jues (Joe) Van Dyk and Erik Jockzc and the Zone Commander initiated them into our Legion family. We spent the rest of the evening with our comrades from Branch 003 who had returned from their Branch Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Canadian War Cemetery in Groesbeek, The Netherlands. The next morning we left for home.