| Page Views: 846 Last Visit to Ieper: September, 2009 | IEPER-YPRES EMOTIONS. by breughel - last update: Oct 5, 2009 |
I can not avoid being emotional when visiting a town like Ieper where half million young man died during WW I.
These young men were mainly British or from the Commonwealth countries.
It is a sad paradox, my country Belgium was never invaded by the British but so many British soldiers died here to push back invaders.
I visited Ieper-Ypres on the occasion of the VT member meeting on 21/04/2007.
We were about twenty, speaking West Flemish dialect, Dutch from Holland and French. This is the fun of Belgium, jumping from one language to another.
We had very nice weather; since 3 weeks there was no rain in Belgium so that we do not complain about the warming up of the climate.
The visit at the Flanders Fields Museum was a special moment of emotion for me.
My grand-father was on the Yser in WW I. He got the typhus but survived. As he was in the artillery he was less exposed than the infantry in the first lines. Strange enough he never spoke about that period of his life.
I had another emotion when at the "Last Post" ceremony at the Menin Gate Monument, the British delegation was composed of recruits of the Welsh Guards.
It were the ancestors of these young Guards who liberated Brussels in Sept. 1944 (ref. my intro on Belgium). I told the recruits that one of their ancestors, on a Cromwell tank, gave me my first chewing gum and smile of a friendly soldier! |
|  | I'm a fan of the Welsh Guards. I had a photo made with their lieutenant; he was pleased to meet an old bloke who had seen his grand father's battalion entering Brussels.
I hope he appreciated my positive appreciation of the drill of his recruits. |
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breughel's Ieper Travel Tips
| Overview | Things to Do
Tips: 21 - Photos: 36 | | | Restaurants
Tips: 1 - Photos: 1 | Hotels & Accommodations | | | | Nightlife | Off The Beaten Path | | | | Tourist Traps | Warnings Or Dangers | | | | Transportation | Local Customs
Tips: 4 - Photos: 4 | | | | Packing Lists | Shopping | | | | Sports Travel | General Tips
Tips: 2 - Photos: 4 |
 Comments for breughel about Ieper | | | | |
Greggor58 Sun Oct 4, 2009 22:25 UTC
You have very informative and thorough pages here about Ieper...Your connection to the Welsh Guards is certainly a personal and an interesting one.My time spent in the area was certainly a reflective and sobering few days.Thank you for sharing here ! | Jefie Sun Oct 4, 2009 14:08 UTC
Nice additions to a page that was already fascinating, thanks for sharing all this info! | hunterV Sun Jan 18, 2009 18:51 UTC
We also commemorate this place in view of the gas attack of WWI. We call in "Ipr" in Russian. | pedroswift Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:27 UTC
Thanks for Ieper tips , Eddy. very moving. I have to return one day! see my ACT Canberra War Memorial tip for a Menin Gate connection - little appreciated by most visitors. Regards , peter |
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