Armistice Day

[mistletoe]

I have just listened live to the Last Post being played at the Menin Gate. It is 90 years since the last gun sounded in the Great War to end all wars. Radio 5 marked the occasion by broadcasting from the ceremony. It was as moving as ever. I have been and heard it myself and there is no way to describe it. If you can go to Ieper in Belgium be there any night at sunset when members of the Ieper Fire Brigade sound the Last Post as they have done every night except for during World War 2 to show their appreciation of the great sacrifice made by British soldiers in their country. The gate is vast and is covered in names of soldiers without any other memorial. There are 54,896 names and we have found one belonging to the great grandfather of one of our students. Imagine seeing that name and knowing that it will always be remembered and seen by millions who can show their respect for the sacrifices made by so many. The cut off date for being inscribed was 1917. Over 34,000 further names are inscribes at the Tyne Cot Military cemetery, the largest First World War military cemetery. Bodies are still occasionally found. If they are identified, they are given a burial with full honours and their name is removed.

Here is the 2007 ceremony, then it was 90 years since the 3rd battle of Ypres known as Passchendaele. The last survivor of that battle, Harry Patch, aged 110, laid a wreath today at the Cenotaph. He was an assistant Lewis Gunner. During the battle a shell exploded above his position. He was wounded. The three men with him were killed. How many of them would have survived to the age of 110 is moot. What matters is that they, and so many others down the years, have not survived beyond their twenties.