Hi Folks & Merry Christmas to all,just discovered this thread.
Some years ago in the 80s I was doing a low level transit back to UK and remember clearly the Albert -Baupame Rd as a nav feature on my map and due to the low cloud base and rain I was using the road,it is straight and I had no idea of its significance.I wondered what the cream coloured blocks were scatterred around in amongst the trees,villages and terrain as we flashed over.It dawned on me as I asked the other guys when we arrived back in the UK. The WW1 cemetries.
In the mid 90s my pilgrimage began,I had no idea at all the extent to which all those brave souls endured for our freedom and I have returned many times now via trips to Paris with my airline and also across the channel by ferry when on leave over the years with mates or often alone.
Subsequently like many,I have family connections and friends who had relatives fight in this most dreadful conflict from all corners of the world.
Last year at Flat Iron Copse I noticed a recently deposited pile of soil by a headstone close to the entrance and within it were the clearly defined bones on an entire human foot. There were also several shells deposited at the corner of the cemetry.
I have read a great deal on WW1 now as a result of my chance encounter in the 80s and there is nothing quite as humbling and cleansing to the mind as to standing in the middle of a Commonwealth cemetry and surveying the headstones that surround you.Let us not forget the estimated 6 million horses that also perished in horrific circumstances.
Instant hayfever symptoms everytime,even in the winter in the rain it has for me been truly fascinating,illuminating and truly in awe of the dnagers this generation faced.
On the way back if you travel by ferry,there are a further 11,000 burials at Etaples which is where the wounded were taken,so many to "die of wounds".
Mindblowing to me.
