Passchendaele 100 Event

August 07, 2017

Passchendaele 100 Event

Recently, I was offered the opportunity to attend the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third battle of Ypres) in Belgium. I was offered this opportunity as one of less than 100 people volunteering through NCS and working with the government Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The Battle of Passchendaele was fought between 31st July 1917 - 10th November 1917 between the allied forced and the then German Empire. Just in this one battle alone, over half a million soldiers were killed; 325,000 allied soldiers and 260,000 German soldiers. Menin Road in Ypres is now home to the Menin Gate memorial which was unveiled in 1927 and since 2nd July 1928, The Last Post has been played every evening at 8pm with the only exception being when the Germans occupied Ypres during WWII.

Our trip lasted 6 days (27th July - 1st August) and although the official event was only over 2 days (30th-31st July) we had a very packed schedule full of rehearsals as well as sight-seeing and cemetery tours.

The first Day was very much a travel day in which we travelled from the Uni of Kent (where we had stayed the night before) to Dover. From there we got the ferry to Calais in France and then drove to Belgium from there. Later that day we had a bit of downtime to unpack and to rest as we had an extremely busy few days coming up.

The second day started with us all splitting into 2 groups to go on 2 different coach tours. My group was on the Medical Evacuation Tour which took us to 4 different cemeteries which during the war were medical points. We started at the frontline and worked our way further back. Our guide was extremely informative and was happy to answer any questions we had. It was a very interesting tour and I definitely learned a lot of stuff I never knew before. The thing that stuck with me the most about this tour was that in the last cemetery we visited, there were some German soldier graves which had flat headstones rather than rounded ones like the ones the soldier from the allied forces had. The German graves were also facing the opposite direction from the rest of the graves which we later learned is because German headstones always face towards Germany. I think what struck us all most about this tour was that even with the hundreds of gravestones we saw that day, this is still only a very small proportion of all the soldier killed during this war and even just this battle in particular.

These are the German headstones. If you notice in the background, the rest have rounded tops whereas these ones have flat tops.

We also saw Chinese headstones.

In the afternoon we had a bit more downtime to have a look around Ypres and buy Belgium chocolate (Which was obviously a must). We also met a Canadian show band who were kind enough to show us one of their routines they had been rehearsing.

Short clip of the show band's routine

After this we all met up for briefings of what will be expected of us during the event and what our job roles would entail and those who had been chosen to lay wreaths had rehearsals this afternoon as well. We also got to see some "Backstage" rehearsals of Sundays event whilst we were getting briefed.

We started the third day (Saturday) with a visit to the 'In Flanders Field Museum'. The museum was interactive and so as we went around we were able to read information in our own language as well as learn about individual people based on where we live, our age and gender which we optionally put into the bracelets at the start of the museum. The museum was so eye-opening (as was this whole trip) and including a short cinema-like experience in which some nurses and doctors of the war were talking about what their experience was and how their patients are coping with the war and under their care. The museum also also had a really thought-provoking gallery which digitally imposed images from the battle onto modern pictures of of people uncovering WWI artefacts which shows how people have moved on since the war, things have been rebuilt and life has moved on for most people.

This is a drawing one of the soldiers did whilst on the battlefield

After this, we had rehearsals for the Tyne Cot event which would take place on the Monday (31st). It was such a beautiful event which would be attended by the British Royalty (Will & Kate and Charles & Camilla) as well as the British PM as well as foreign dignitaries and other important people and a select few descendants of the soldiers who had been buried at Tyne Cot.

That evening we had rehearsals for the market square event which would take place on the 30th. This was to be a public event on the night so the rehearsal was classed as a 'preview' and the public could attend this is they wished. This rehearsal gave us the chance to see the event from the point of view of the descendants. It was a very moving yet highly enjoyable experience and various people were touched by various parts of the event from the music to the stories of the survivors which was all displayed on cloth hall so that no matter where you stood in the square you would be able to see the event. There was also guest appearances from Michael Morpurgo; who read an extract from The War Horse whilst it was acted out with the actual stage horse as well as Helen Mirren who narrated a lot of the event. The audio-visuals of the event which were displayed on the museum building were also absolutely incredible.

The Next day was the day that the two days of events started officially (Sunday). The morning started with another Tyne Cot rehearsal and then the event would start in the evening.

My role during the event was to be in the crowd and assist with any questions or queries people may have had during the event.

One of the conversations I had that stuck with me the most was with an older man whose grandfather had fought at Ypres during the war and, during the Battle, had found a postcard and a picture of a little girl in all the rubble (as market square was completely wiped during the war and rebuilt as an exact replica afterwards) and he bought it with him in order to try and locate the owner. He also had with him a tin that his grandfather had received of Queen Mary as a Christmas present during the war which would have contained cigars he said and he also said how his own mother had promised him these artefacts his whole life.

Although this was such as a long day (We were standing for 8 hours for just the event never mind the morning activities) it was definitely worth it and definitely something I would do again in a heartbeat; It was such a wonderful experience and I am honoured to say I was part of it.

The Next day was the last day of the official event and my job this day was to escort the descendants and the other 'Important people' from their coaches to the entrance to Tyne Cot. This was again another amazing opportunity to interact with the descendants who had some amazing stories to tell and many even asked how we got involved in such an amazing opportunity like this. Due to the role I was doing I also had many police escorted people drive past me which was very exciting. Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the service as some of the coaches ran slightly late but luckily I was able to see the rehearsals a few days before. At the end of the service, I was able to meet and talk to the Royal family and the PM as they left though the back entrance were we had been asked to escort them out. I was able to talk to Theresa May about my experience on the trip which was an honour and Will asked us all if we were wearing suncream.

After this, we all got back together as an NCS group to reflect on our highlights of the trip and to receive exclusive NCS pin badges which only about 100 have ever been made.

This trip will definitely always be a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will never forget; from the new NCS friends I made, to the stories I heard to all the new information I learned, it's definitely something I would jump at the opportunity of doing again if I ever got the chance.