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November 15, 2003
Wipers
Too sad for words. Belgian highway construction uncovered a nearly intact system of trenches and the remains of seven soldiers of the War to End All Wars. I have my great-uncle's medals from that war and remember clearly the way he talked about that phrase when he gave them to me. I look at this field and think of the bodies that still turn up year after year almost a century later and my mind reels.
British politicians have called for a detour to the highway in order to preserve the site.
They said the trenches - on the site where chemical weapons were used for the first time and at the starting point for one of the bloodiest battles in human history - should be preserved as a reminder for future generations.
At first glance, the mournful, featureless and mud-brown archaeological dig, just northeast of Ypres in Belgium, could itself be a Great War battlefield. Out of the raw, moist earth, largely undisturbed since the third battle of Ypres in 1917, there have emerged seven bodies, an immense treasury of war-time artefacts and - most significantly of all - the most complete pattern of preserved 1914-18 trenches to be found for many years
And then... John sends this link in commemoration.
And then... And shares moving words at Castle Argghhh!!!
Posted by Ghost of a flea at November 15, 2003 11:14 AM
Comments
Perhaps it is time for the Flea to dance In Memmoriam? By clicking on John of Argghhh! in the sign-off, as the Flea apparently doesn't allow html in his comments.
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
We at Castle Argghhh! rejoice that these soldiers may be once again known, suffused with the sadness of a warrior for those who did not grow old, to know the joys that we know.
We thank the Flea for sharing.
Posted by: John of Argghhh! at November 15, 2003 06:13 PM
Thanks for the thoughts and for the link. I disabled html in the comments as a deterrent to the comment-spammers.
Posted by: Nicholas Packwood at November 15, 2003 06:41 PM