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Armistice ceremonies draw thousands
More than 1,000 people gathered under the Menin Gate in Ypres yesterday for the annual ceremony to mark the end of the First World War. The event this year – one of the largest ever – was organised by the Last Post Association along with Ypres city council and the Belgian and British armed forces.
The guests included the Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Belgium’s Prince Laurent, Flanders' minister-president Kris Peeters and federal defence minister Pieter De Crem. The ceremony began with the laying of wreaths at the monumental gate, which commemorates the nearly 55,000 missing soldiers who died in the Ypres Salient, and ended with the dropping of thousands of poppies.
Students from more than 70 Belgian schools were there this year as part of a project called The Gathering of the Soil. They walked under the gate carrying 70 sandbags filled with soil collected from former battlefields around Ypres. The soil will be taken to London and scattered later this month in a new Flanders Fields Memorial Garden near Buckingham Palace.
The memorial garden has been created by the Flanders government in memory of all the soldiers who died in Flanders. The aim is to create “a symbol of hope, peace, reconciliation and international brotherhood,” according to a spokesperson.
About 500 people attended a ceremony in Brussels at the Congress Column in the centre of the city. After the traditional 21-gun salute in nearby Warande Park, King Filip laid a wreath on the Grave of the Unknown Soldier at the foot of the Congress Column. In Diksmuide, West Flanders, 750 people attended the annual IJzer Pilgrimage at the IJzer Tower and Paxpoort, or Gate of Peace, monuments on the IJzer river.
The Flemish government has drawn up a major programme of events running from 2014 to 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War.
Comments
So which is it? "More than 1,000" or "Thousands"
The words "More than 1,000" at the start refer only to the ceremony at the Menin Gate. The article then goes on to mention 500 people at the ceremony in Brussels, and 750 at yet another in Diksmuide: a total of over 2,250. So the title - "Armistice ceremonIES draw thousands" is accurate. Please take the time to read articles properly before you leap in to comment!
I read with great interest your article about the various Armistice Ceremonies that took place under the well-known Menin Gate in Ypres, in Brussels, Diksmuide, etc.
May I take this opportunity to point out to you another event that took place yesterday less than 20 km away from Ypres, in the small border town of Ploegsteert (a tiny French-speaking part surrounded by Flanders) and that attracts more and more participants every year:
the Remembrance Semi Marathon.
This year, a new 'Plugstreet' museum was inaugurated and the semi marathon was slightly diverted to pass by the museum and make it known to the world. The word 'Plugstreet' was created as it was thought the British would not be able to pronounce the difficult word 'Ploegsteert'.
On the other side of the border, you will find the French town of 'Armentieres' made famous during WWI by the song "Mademoiselle from Armentieres, parlez-vous?...."