Pilgrimage of the British Legion to the Battle-Fields
J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-51-05-04 on 1 November 1928. Downloaded from 362 PILGRIMAGE OF THE BRITISH LEGION TO THE BATTLE-FIELDS. By COLONEL A. CHOPPING, C.B., C.M.G. THE 8th of August-a never to be forgotten day; the day the tide turned for the British armies in France. How better to celebrate the tenth anniversary than by a pilgrimage to France and Belgium, to visit the battle-fields and take part in the Commemoration Service at the Menin Gate, Ypres. The pilgrimage, organized by the headquarters of the British Legion, started from the various legion centres in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and nearly 11,000 pilgrims, of whom about one-third were women, joined in this memorable visit to the scenes of trench warfare and also, in a large number of cases, the grave of some fallen relation. guest. Protected by copyright. The arrangements made for the pilgrims worked according to plan. They were trained from their centres in batches of 500 to Dover, crossed over to Calais and were taken by special trains to their destinations in France or Belgium, viz., Amiens, Tourcoing, St. Omer, Valenciennes, H, Lietard, Arras, Lens, Douai, Roubaix, Bethune, Hazebrouck, Cambrai, Lille, Armentieres, Ypres and Poperinghe, where they were billeted in private houses by the kindness of the French and Belgian eople, or in hotels. The boats crossed ov.er to France on the evening of August 4-5, and all the pilgrims were comfortably settled in their.billets the next day, Sunday, ready for an early start on.the Monday m9rning to the battle-fields.
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