11.11.1918-11.11.2025

Last year I was supporting a training exercise in Latvia for the Canadian Multi-National Brigade in Camp Adazi near Latvia.

There were over 2000 soldiers from various NATO countries on parade. Here is a picture of the Latvian monument at the camp.

The Latvians take their defence very seriously, having been invaded and occupied so many times in the past. The citizens also had a huge torchlight gathering in Riga that evening by their national monument. Very moving.

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Essex Farms Cemetery near Ypres where the poem In Flanders Fields was written by John McCrae at his aid station. Been many times

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Canadian War Cemetery at Beny Sur Mer near Juno Beach Normandy and the famous inscription by Rudyard Kipling and the Cross of Remembrance .

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Fallen Canadian soldiers from the DDay invasion, same cemetery.
 
I, like you, visited Essex Farm Cemetary several times, you also probably saw the regimental aid post bunkers there too?
These were later in the war protected with concrete, in the time when John McCrae was there, that wasn't the case.
 
I think this song sums it up. The writer, Eric Bogle, said it referred to an Irish soldier, but it clearly also applies to young men of all nationalities. The singers are ‘Saffyre’, Irish women- two sisters and their cousin. Another excellent Eric Bogle song is ‘And the band played Waltzing Matilda’ , about the ANZAC Gallipoli campaign. (Note that I have edited the content of my post since first posting, after doing a bit of research).

 
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coert65 said:
I, like you, visited Essex Farm Cemetary several times, you also probably saw the regimental aid post bunkers there too?
These were later in the war protected with concrete, in the time when John McCrae was there, that wasn't the case.
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Yes for sure. I have toured the many battlefields and cemeteries many times now, including with a private guide from the Imperial War Museum a couple of times and have also guided many family and friends through the Flanders, Somme and Vimy regions. Always a memorable and worthwhile experience. I love the Flanders region in general and having our eldest son living in Mechelen and before that Leuven means we are there often to visit!
 
I'd like to share a piece of music with you all. It comes from the renowned shooter game Battlefield V. The Irish bagpipes evoke a sense of historical melancholy, capturing the profound emotions of soldiers who survived the horrors of war.
Under no flag
Viewing those commemorative photographs of the First World War to the accompaniment of music, I must confess I too felt deeply moved. Words welled up like a fountain at my lips, yet I found myself at a loss for what to say.
 
chinstrap said:
I think this song sums it up. The writer, Eric Bogle, said it referred to an Irish soldier, but it clearly also applies to young men of all nationalities. The singers are ‘Saffyre’, Irish women- two sisters and their cousin. Another excellent Eric Bogle song is ‘And the band played Waltzing Matilda’ , about the ANZAC Gallipoli campaign. (Note that I have edited the content of my post since first posting, after doing a bit of research).

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thank you very much for this link to the version of the green fields of france, it is beautiful!!
brings back good memories!

It has been one of my favorite songs since my childhood (being 54 years old now that has been a while)

I've been interested in military history since I was a child, and my parents had this song in the version of the fury brothers on vinyl record, I studied and translated the lyrics as a young kid and sang along with it when alone in our house. (helped me to learn English)

I like the song because it sounds beautiful and it really brings history to life in a very narrative way,

I played it later on for my wife and now adult daughters and my now twelve years old son years ago when driving in the car to our holiday house as my kids asked me " daddy what kind of music did you listen to when you were my age?"

living in the south of the Netherlands has it advantages when interested in military history, I was able tot visit Ypres at 11 november 2018 only 20 yards from the menen gate for the big commemoration of the centenary ,

and was at the cemetery near Rossignol in Belgium 22 august 2014 for the centenary commemoration of the terrible battle of the frontiers , on that day 22.000 plus french soldiers lost their lives on a single day, still the bloodiest day in french military history.
 
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