ANZAC day!

This week the Australian embassy was able to arrange a special ANZAC day for those Australians and New Zealanders who are spending the day away from home in Belgium. The day started at 9 am at Zonnebeke Chateau near Ypres. Most students had to wake up at 4am to catch the train at 5 to be outside the Australian Embassy at 7, but as I live at Mouscron, only a 40 minute drive from Zonnebeke I arranged to meet the others at the Chateau at 9, meaning I only had to wake up at 7.

I arrived a little early, twenty to, and with the other students running late as usual I was able to take a little walk around the grounds. It was so beautiful. As this time in the morning there was a little fog leaving a layer of mist on top of the lake out the front of the chateau. It was so beautiful. As the chateau had now been turned into a museum for the war there was also the flags of those countries who had fought there out the front. After a bit of a walk I went back to the big tent to see if the others had arrived. They hadn't, but there were lots of young people wearing suits with ANZAC written on it, and as I got closer I began to hear the most lovely sound in the world, Australian Accents! It was seriously like music to my ears. I began talking to them and it turned out they were from WA and here with the government doing a tour of the places Australians had fought. After Belgium they were heading to Turkey. I spent a little while talking to them, they said I was sounding French :p (the second time I had heard that)! Then I turned and saw a mass of green blazers heading this way. I practically ran to the group. They were all the exchange students, mostly Rotary, but a few from WEP and other organisations I have never heard of. I had no idea there were so many Aussie rotary students though. It was really good to catch up with those I had met in Normandy, to catch up with Carla whose from adelaide and who I spent the whole plane trip with and to meet all the others. As we were running late we had to quickly take our seats though for the first ceremony.

The ceremony was just a little thankyou from the Burgemeister of Zonnebeke and numerous Government officials, mostly Australian. Every Minister was given a little candle holder made out of war shrapnel, which is found all the time there, by a local artist. A young girl who lives in Zonnebeke also presented a project she had done on an Australian soldier, I think a corporal, who was never found and whose body is thought to be on her farm. When his family started searching there she became interested in it and researched his life and everything in a project.

After this there was a quick breakfast which was provided by the Zonnebeke council, and then we all loaded onto the bus to go to Tyne Cot Cemetary. This cemetary is situated at the top of a small hill, where Australian and English Battalions fought the Germans. The German soldiers held the higher ground and there are still the Barracks (its not the word they used but I can't remember it, but it's like a huge cement block where they put the machine guns). There are 5 altogether, each protecting the other. The cross of sacrifice is situated on top of the one in the centre, it was thought appropriate as there was the amachine gun there which killed so many people. Here we had another short ceremony but this was more for the soldiers. Some wreaths were layed and the Last Post was played. 70% of the soldiers buried there were unable to be identified. Almost every cross has the symbol of the army of their country (for Aust it's the rising sun) and then 'A soldier of the Great War, known unto God'.

After this we went to Menin Gate, at Ypres. We went first to the town centre, where we met up with the New Zealand exchange students. Here they had a marching band and some people marching with flags and we walked with these from the centre to Menin Gate where there was another ceremony. Menin Gate is the entrance to Ypres. Here there is a huge Arc, similar to the Arc de Triomphe in shape, and on it are listed all the soldiers who were never found in that area. Every night the Last Post is played here to honour the soldiers. During the ceremony a group of students, came, they were on a school excursion, I think to do with places of the war. And they started taking photos and watching. They would've had no idea what was going on. They played the New Zealand anthem, and then the Australian one. My friend and I struggled a bit with the words here. We mixed the second verse with the first one and then while trying to figure what went where got completely confused and gave up. After this the Last Post was played again and we walked behind the band and the flags again to a smaller memorial behind the town hall. More wreaths were layed and then we again walked into the town hall to have another ceremony. Here there were thankyous and drinks after. We were then left to have lunch at Ypres.

After lunch we went back to Zonnebeke and to a smaller cemetary, just for Australians. This time we had a guide and here he explained how the war went. I didn't really understand it all. But he said that in 1914 the population of Australia was 4 or 5 million. Of that 4 or 5 million 300 000 soldiers went to War. 80 000 were killed or missing and 150 000 injured. He said that the size of the Australian Army compared to the population was one of the biggest in the War. And we were standing on the land where they had fought and died. For me, the war had always seemed quite foreign in Europe. And to actually be standing where boys our age had killed and died was just really touching. You can't help but imagine your friends and family there. While we were here he read a quote from an Australian who had fought there, describing how he almost drowned in the mud. Trying to save himself he grabbed the leg of a body nearby which broke off. He saved himself by getting his mates to lie down rifles so that he could roll himself out on top of them. If you see the land here you can imagine how after days of nothing but rain and bombing could turn it into that. It's not a nice thought to imagine drowning in mud. He also explained about the chemical warfare. The German Soldiers had the bottles ready and would wait for a favourable wind and just open them and let them go. They didn't use bombs because they had signed a treaty or something so they did this instead. the gas was chlorine gas and would burn the eyes and if it was breathed in the lungs as well. I think he said this effected mostly the Canadians, it was where they were fighting it was first used or something.

After this we went to a tiny cemetary across the road. Where there were buried a few soldiers from different countries. There was even one from Germany. He told us the story that he was the last soldier there and fighting against the Allies and after seeing all his comrades fall he refused to give up. He is buried where he fell out of a certain respect for that and also as a sign of reconciliation. The guide also told us here about all the shrapnel that is found every year, as well as body parts. While he was digging up a hedge in his yard he found 4 shells and a lot of bullets. And this was only 2 years ago.

After this we went to a German Cemetary. This was situated where a group of enthusiastic young German soldiers who had not had much training were pracitically mowed down by experienced ally fighters in what the German's call the slaughter of the innocents. All the soldiers are buried in groups as they have the idea we fought together and died together so we are buried together. In the centre there is a big mass grave with 25 000 soldiers, there remains in little silver boxes. The graves do not have crosses, only little plaques with the names of who was buried here. Another interesting fact is Hitler has been to that cemetary. It's really weird being at all these places of history and imagining it happening there.

My history of the place is not too good but the areas we visited were to with the Battle of Passchendaele. So if you are interested you can do a little research. The day was a really amazing and impressioning. I'm glad I had the opportunity to go.