Saturday 10 April - Paschendale

Saturday saw us on the way to the village of Paschendale. The photo above is from Archives Canada and shows the battlefield of Paschendale.

And here is the village of Paschendale today.

 

The entrance arch to the Memorial Museum of Paschendale (still getting use to the new camera.)

Quite a contrast to how it looked in 1917

A former residence that was donated to the village to house the museum. I was so interested in the displays that I forgot to take any photos.

After about an hour in the museum we made our way to Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. There are 11,954 graves of men killed in the First World War, 8367 of these are the graves of unidentified British and Commonwealth soldiers. Those graves are marked simply with the words Known Unto God.
 Several smaller cemeteries were closed and the remains brought to Tyne Cot.

Maeghan the panda is signing the Cemetery Register; a register is found at each cemetery and according to Jeff the pages are archived in Ottawa.

The cross of Sacrifice, of which there is one at each cemetery. In driving around visiting different sites, it was easy to spot small cemeteries scattered around the countryside.
 

Jeff and Maeghan lay a flag and poppy at the grave of Pte Robertson, a recipient of the Victory Cross.

Below is a description of his heroism from Veterans Affairs

Private James Peter Robertson who died on November 6, 1917 

Service Number: 552665

Age: 34

Force: Army

Unit: Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment)

Division: 27th Battalion

Citation: An extract from "The London Gazette" No. 30471, dated 8th Jan., 1918, records the following:-"For most conspicuous bravery and outstanding devotion to duty in attack. When his platoon was held up by uncut wire and a machine gun causing many casualties, Pte. Robertson dashed to an opening on the flank, rushed the machine gun and, after a desperate struggle with the crew, killed four and then turned the gun on the remainder, who, overcome by the fierceness of his onslaught, were running towards their own lines. His gallant work enabled the platoon to advance. He inflicted many more casualties among the enemy, and then carrying the captured machine gun, he led his platoon to the final objective. He there selected an excellent position and got the gun into action, firing on the retreating enemy who by this time were quite demoralised by the fire brought to bear on them. During the consolidation Pte. Robertson's most determined use of the machine gun kept down the fire of the enemy snipers; his courage and his coolness cheered his comrades and inspired them to the finest efforts. Later, when two of our snipers were badly wounded in front of our trench, he went out and carried one of them in under very severe fire. He was killed just as he returned with the second man.

Pte Robertson's headstone.

I don't know why some of the headstones are severely weathered and others still quite legible. i guess it is possible that headstones are periodically replaces as they become illegible.

A very sobering visit.