Ypres (Iepers)

No self-respecting Canadian can come to Belgium without going to Ypres.  It was here during WWI, that John McCrae, a Canadian military doctor, composed his famous poem "In Flanders Fields".  Every year on November 11 we recite this poem and it plays over the radio and TV along with the Remembrance Day ceremonies.  It was very moving to visit this city which has enshrined military cemeteries alongside everyday life.  There is a wonderful WWI museum which was very detailed and haunting.  In addition to the poppy wreaths and testimonials, we were able to see a few Canadian headstones.

 

Belgium certainly suffered during both WWI and WWII under German occupation both times.  Monuments and memorials abound in both the Flemish and French parts of the country.  We had visited the WWII Normandy beaches and cemeteries when we were in France in 2010 and were certainly moved by the experience.  However, we were very touched by the quiet dignity of these smaller cemeteries in their non-hyped atmosphere.  We were the only ones walking through the headstones contemplating what it must have been like to be 19 years old, far from your home in Canada and fighting an impossible war in 1914, in this small country surrounded by enemy fire. Real traces still linger as there are apparently thousands of unexploded shells buried underground from this war...