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Above left;

Branch Officers attending the burial service of 3 Unknown British Soldiers at Cement House CWGC near Langemark in 2008.

 

Above right;

A floral tribute is placed whilst the Chaplain brings the service to a conclusion.

 

Since September 2008, Branch Officers & Members have attended the burial services of many soldiers that have been recently been recovered from the old battlefields. Apart from the necessary officials that attend these burial services, the Ypres Branch of the Royal British Legion also attend and offer their deepest respects on behalf of the Royal British Legion. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above center;

 The British Military Representative, the CWGC representative and the Menin Gate Last Post Buglers pay their respects and offer the necessary salute.

 

Above left and right;

Floral tributes placed at the gravesides.

 

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Above;                                  

The following attended the Burial Service

The CWGC, Chaplain, the British Military Representative from Brussels,

Last Post Association Buglers, piper,

the Ypres Branch of the Royal British Legion, Veterans and members of the public.

 

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Above;

These photographs record the incredible moment when the last fighting Tommy, Pte Harry Patch of the 7th Battalion Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry, put his demons aside and paid tribute to the Great War Generation. Harry personally paid for this Memorial out of his own pocket and the CWGC have promised to look after it for him. It stands where Harry's Battalion fought their way across the dreaded Steenbeek during the 3rd Battle of Ypres. Harry's war came to an abrupt end here after his Lewis Gun team were torn apart by a German shell. Harry was badly wounded and returned to Blighty. He slowly recovered from his physical wounds; however, today in his 110th year, he is still fighting the Great War.

 

Only recently, Harry assisted by his carer drafted a letter. Thanking us for our Branches attendance at his Memorial Inauguration Ceremony. We are very proud to have been able to do this for Harry and his letter is one of our most treasured links to this great man and to the Great War.

 

The Ypres Branch of the Royal British Legion wish you well Harry. SALUTE!

 

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Apart from the official wreaths, Branch Officials also placed a wreath at the Menin Gate Memorial and at the Belgian War Memorial during this special

ANZAC ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above;

The evening 8pm last post ceremony dedicated to the Circus 157 Spitfire pilots who lost their lives during that feteful mission and the graveside ceremony to

Sgt Karel Pavlik in Ypres Town Ext CWGC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above left;

Belgian Spitfire Pilot Officer B d Hemptinne's Memorial outside of Dranouter church yard.

Above right;

Czech Spitfire pilot Sgt Karel Pavlik's crash site Memorial at the base of the Kemmelberg near Dranouter

 

This was a very special day which saw several Operation Circus 157 ceremonies take place and underlines what we are all about today. Milena Kolarikova who is one of our Branch Committee Members and is also the Czechoslovak Legionaires Association ( CsOL ) Representative in Belgium, presented her association's wreaths to commemorate 5 Spitfire pilots shot down on the above date over the Kemmelberg near Ieper.

The pilots killed in that action were Czech, Canadian, Belgian and British. Our Branch Vice Chairman laid a RBL wreath on behalf of our Branch. We are very much an International Branch of the RBL and we will remember our fallen Allies!

Sgt Stacey Jones, Sgt Joffre Ribout and Sgt Karel Pavlik today lay side by side in Ypres Town Extention CWGC. Pilot Officer B d Hemptinne was removed after WW2. Milena had brought with her and delivered a personal message from the Sister of Sgt Karel Pavlik. Apart from the message Milena also sang the Czech National Anthem at his grave side. It is a beautiful patriotic song and I felt my resolve crumbling. It was most fitting! Milena has an invitation to visit Pavlik's Sister during her next visit to their homeland. I'm sure she will be most pleased to hear all about the ceremony and see the photographs that Milena will bring with her. The Belgian Piper ( Pierre Devaux ) did a fantastic job and is a credit to the Ypres/Surrey Pipes & Drums who are very much active in this area along with the Passchandaele 1917 Pipes & Drums. We are extremely fortunate to have such wonderful musicians at hand for these most important ceremonies. Thank you Pierre. You made our day and no doubt to the men listening in that cemetery likewise.

The evening Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony aranged on behalf of this joint RBL/CsOL Ceremony was very special as always. Ronnie Loof our Branch Standard Bearer along with another visiting RBL Standard Bearer offered the obligatory salutes. Earlier in the day, as we all gathered around the crash site of the downed Belgian Spitfire pilot Baudoin de Hemptinne. 3 Belgian F16's carried out a low level fly past above us. It was long day but a great day to remember and commemorate. Lest we forget!

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Last Thursday, I travelled to Wootton Bassett to represent our Branch for

the repatriation of 5 soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan on Thursday 11 March, with the cortege passing through the town at 2.45pm.

Corporal Richard Green, 23 from Reading, of the 3rd Battalion The Rifles, died on Tuesday 2 March 2010; Rifleman Jonathon Allott, 19 from North Shields, of the 3rd Battalion The Rifles, died on Friday 5 March 2010; Rifleman Liam Maughan, 18 from Doncaster, of 3rd Battalion The Rifles, died on Saturday 6 March 2010; Lance Corporal Tom Keogh, 24 from Paddington, of 4th Battalion The Rifles and Corporal Stephen Thompson, 31 from Bovey Tracey in Devon, of the 1st Battalion The Rifles, both died on Sunday 7 March.

Hundreds of serving soldiers including wounded Riflemen, British military veterans, 

Royal British Legion members, shopkeepers, residents and members of the public lined the streets to pay their respects - as has become customary after such repatriations. The standards of the Rifles and the RBL were very much in attendance likewise. A book of Remembrance was passed around and I signed this on behalf of the Ypres Branch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above left & right;

As the cortege arrives, the Standards are raised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above left & right;

The cortege briefly stops to allow the fallen soldiers families a precious moment with their fallen sons and husbands, whilst the standards are dipped in salute and the attending masses pay their deep respects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above left & right;

A simple tribute left at the roadside along with a "Stable belt and cap" of a former repatriated fallen Sapper.