At the Menin Gate

by Jon Sandison

Each November when Remembrance day comes around, standing at the Shetland listening to a lone piper, thoughts flood back from a twilight autumn over two years ago. In the Belgian city of on Monday 10 October 2011, it was just another night at the Menin Gate; a chance for people to visit, and to pay their respects. For us, it was to be a time we would not forget, as is the case for anyone who experiences this iconic memorial’s Ceremony for the first time.

The crisp but bright October day quickly changed from dusk to darkness. Arriving in in the late afternoon, with just enough time to have a quick change in our hotel, we headed into Ypres for a meal. We settled for a nice relaxing dinner with stunning Belgian cuisine and wine at the Ocean Villas Restaurant, just along from the rebuilt Cloth Hall. Little did we know then the impact of what we were to experience. Our tour was a rush from start to finish. So much to cram into such a short space of time. We always knew that would be the case. Yet we had more time than many of the men who were lost in and around Ypres. A trip such as this continually reminds one of a sense of perspective, and thankfulness.

One hundred years ago Ypres had been a beautiful place within . It was a Medieval city, previously based around cloth, but then reliant upon the farming of hops and corn. By the end of the Great war, its buildings were in ruins, and the surrounding landscape became a mirror of the mud, quagmire and slaughter associated with the Western Front. The town was stuck in the middle of what was known as the , a British penetration into the German line. By 1918, all that was left was the Cloth Tower in its centre, its poignant remnants jutting into the sky. Out of the million men who lost their lives during the Great War, a quarter of a million died in the few miles around Ypres. Beneath the farmland, woods and small villages there lies the bodies of thousands who died and often drowned within the mud. As we walked through its quaint streets, and looked up at beautiful buildings, it was hard to believe how everything had been rebuilt, street by street. We were fascinated by its beautiful friendly and inviting town square, with people meandering about. There was an overwhelming sense of peace. Ypres’ beauty has returned.

On our visit to the Menin Gate, we did not intend to lay a wreath. We were going to do something private when the ceremony finished. Our tour guide persuaded us otherwise to lay a wreath during the official ceremony. As we strolled from the restaurant, and picked up our wreath from the tour guides car, we quickly jotted down a note on it: In Memory of all the young Shetlanders who fell on the Western Front, 1914-1918. From the Shetland People. In our rush, it is what naturally came to mind. It seemed appropriate.

Expecting a few people there to watch the ceremony, we walked up to the Gate. To our astonishment, mass crowds became closer; a pilgrimage of humanity, all gathered together to pay their respects of the Great War. The peaks of the Ypres architecture were very clear against the now silhouetted autumn evening sky. Two veterans, with their grey smart suit jackets, dark berries, and medals, added further gravitas and sobriety to the night. Around them, children, locals and visitors alike, watched this ceremony that is repeated, like clockwork, each night of the year. Stunned by the staggering size of the Menin Gate in front of us, and the crowd there waiting, we became fully aware why so many speak about this Menin Gate Ceremony. Our own visit was less than a month away from Remembrance Day.

Walking amongst the throng of people at this magnificent structure, our eyes became fixated upon its beautiful curved opening, with its glaring white wall lit up by flood lights against the now dark sky. The awe was soon dispelled with the realisation that its walls were covered with endless names, carefully etched, on both sides with huge back panels. A wall also with Shetlanders on it; somewhere amongst the thousands. Our tour guide explained where to stand in order to take part in the ceremony. Across the road to the other side, it was impossible not to constantly look up with the endless sea of names looking down upon us.

We were far from home, yet, we were doing something, in our own small way, for Shetland. Next to us, also waiting to lay a wreath, were secondary school pupils from Kemnay Academy and Oldmacher Academy in Aberdeenshire, along with their teacher, in highland regalia. The last thing we expected to see that night was a kilt. But, it was a welcome sight. We thought about all the Shetlanders who had arrived on this ground in the Ypres Salient during the Great War, and further south on the Somme. With so many names inscribed on stone panels, the scale of the conflict was apparent. The school pupils laid their wreath. The four of us walked across the street, people surrounding us on all sides, and then slowly up the inclining stairs. Carefully and solemnly we placed this symbolic bright red piece upon the stand that was there, with the others. We then marched back to our starting position. The haunting Last Post sounded and echoed around the Menin Gate, sending a shiver down our spines.

Members of the local Fire Brigade play the Last Post each evening. During World War Two, the 8.00 pm ceremony ceased, although it was carried on at in . It is said that some of the buglers braved severe punishment they attempted to play the Last Post at this time. On one occasion, a bugler was surreptitiously playing the tune when suddenly a squad of German soldiers marched through the Gate. Fearing the worst, the bugler was not too sure what to do. He decided to keep playing. To his astonishment, the German soldiers stopped and stood to attention – moving on only when the bugler had stopped. It was played again the very day the town of Ypres was liberated by Polish troops on 6 September 1944 and was sounded again that very evening.

The Gate itself is located at the eastern exit of the town and marks the starting point for one of the main roads out of town that led Allied soldiers to the front line of the Ypres Salient. It was designed by Sir , built by the British Government, and was unveiled on 24 . On its walls are over 54,000 names. Its inscription reads:

Here are recorded that names of men and officers who fell in the Ypres Salient but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and the honoured burial given to their comrades in death

One of a few Shetland names on the Menin Gate is Thomas Hardy, Service No 10017, 2nd Gordons, aged 25. Thomas took part in the . Just over three years before the Menin Gate was finished, the Shetland War Memorial was unveiled by his mother, Jessie Hardy, from Wadbister, Girlsta. Thomas was one of three brothers. That day in Lerwick, 6 January 1924, was recorded in The Shetland Times:

The crowd at the Memorial must have numbered at least 3,000 people when Mr J W Robertson (former Convener of the County) led forward Mrs Thomas Hardy, Wadbister, Girlsta, to perform the actual unveiling. Mrs Hardy was accompanied by Mr Hardy. They lost three sons in the war, one of whom was the first Shetlander to lay down his life in the Great War. The pedestal of the Monument had been draped with bunting, lent and arranged by the staff at Fort Charlotte. Mrs Hardy, in the midst of a solemn silence, pulled down the flags, and Shetland's War Memorial stood unveiled.

When war broke out in August 1914, the 1st and 2nd Gordons Battalion were regular army. They formed part of the British Expeditionary Force which was small in comparison to the other armies of Europe. The 1st Battalion suffered many losses by the end of August. The 2nd Battalion landed at Zeebrugge from Egypt on 7 Oct 1914. Thomas had entered the field here with them. He would leave it again just under a month later, killed on 1 November.

By October 1914, 99 years ago, winter and bad weather had brought things to a standstill, and both sides had started to dig in and construct trenches. These would become all too common for the remainder of the war. In the First Battle of Ypres during October, the 2nd Battalion, part of the 7th Division, were in action on the Menin Road on the 23rd. Six days later a massive attack was launched by the Germans which resulted in a day long battle. Then, the Battalion Thomas was part of launched a number of strong counter-attacks but had to fall back on the Gheluvelt area. On the day that Thomas was killed, the German 36th Division had launched a further determined attack. By this time the 7th Division only had 940 men left from what had been a division of around 4,000 men when it landed in . The 2nd Gordons lost 23 officers with over 600 killed or wounded. After First Ypres, the Division was often known as the "Immortal Seventh". By late 1914, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had suffered so many casualties that there was a danger Britain would be unable to keep fighting. The First Battle of Ypres, was very important since it saw the decimation of the experienced British regular army. The local Territorials from throughout Britain, including the Shetland Battalion, were eventually to plug the gap, and conscription was eventually introduced. In total, the First Battle of Ypres saw 7,960 British soldiers killed, 29,562 wounded, and 17,873 missing. German losses came 19,530 killed, 83,520 wounded, 31,265 missing. Fighting around the Ypres salient resumed in April 1915 with the .

The last phase of Thomas's life at this time was brought to light by his letters to his brother, Master David Hardy, Wadbister, Girlsta. This letter was dated from the Expeditionary Force, and provides valuable insight to the early phases of the war:

Battle map of 1st Battle of Ypres.

I can’t say this is life – it is mere existence. The guns are thundering and shells bursting everywhere. As I am writing the enemy are attacking to our left, about a mile away, as I hear the Maxims and terrific rifle fire. We have held this position almost a week under terrible artillery fire.

In the firing lines one knows nothing but what's happening to one's immediate front. We may be the only party in the war for all we know. The rifle fire and artillery fire continue all night, and, to make things more miserable, there is a continual drizzle caused by the heavy guns. Bullets make a sort of whining noise and shells a sort of seething noise when passing you. Field Marshal French sent us a note of congratulation which was read to us in the trenches and passes along. He praised the troops under his command for their magnificent coolness and bravery under artillery of such size as never has been used in action on the field before, and how they have borne everything cheerfully. We had about 30 casualties, my chum being among the number. Only four of these were killed. Johnston was shot through the right arm and side as 'D' Company were coming over the open to reinforce us in the trenches. I have seen an hospital orderly, and he said he was very severely wounded, but that the doctor hoped he would recover. I was so pressed last week for something to write on that I had to use his photo which he had taken when he had his 48 hours' pass to Colchester. I intended to keep the photo, so see and look after it for me. We have been treated with the greatest respect by the inhabitants of the towns. The country round here is cultivated to the last inch, and the people seem to have been well to do. The country through which we advanced to occupy our present position has been thoroughly looted by the Germans, the people having fled, leaving their livestock behind. These we liberated, so that along our front line we see cattle grazing and pigs grunting about. The Germans shot all the horses on the farms as they considered they would be of service to us. It’s all right to stay at home and fill the papers with patriotic paragraphs, but really war should be reserved to fiends who are at the last stages of insanity. But we are quite happy, and the glorious traditions this regiment has earned in bye-gone days will, I hope, be further increased ... I have put Saturday at the top of my letter, but I have no idea what day it is, only I know it's near the end of the week. Each day follows the other under the same conditions – heavy artillery and rifle fire without ceasing ...

Thomas had written to his parents just prior to his death. This letter was published in The Shetland Times, on 21 November under the heading Another Letter From The Front

We have been drawn back from the trenches after hard fighting. We have suffered severely and thus fresh troops have taken our places in the firing line. We have lost about 40 killed, besides wounded. The German shell fire is terrific, and the shells make the ground quiver if bursting within 100 yards of you. One other regiment comprising our brigade, have hardly fared so well as we have, as they have little more of half of them left. All our casualties have been caused by artillery and machine gun fire.

A week later, his death was reported in The Shetland Times. What a difference a week made.

Shetlander Dies from Wounds in Action We very much regret to have to announce the death of Private Thomas Hardy, eldest son of Mr Thomas Hardy, Wadbister, Girlsta. The sad intelligence was received by his father yesterday (Sunday), and merely stated that Private Hardy had died of wounds received on 1st November at the battle of Ypres. Through his long and interesting letters the late Private Hardy was well-known to all the readers of the 'Shetland Times', and also to the readers of the 'Times War Special'. He had been nine years in the Gordon Highlanders, and had been both in India and in Egypt with his regiment. He had his first "baptism of fire" in India, and during the time he was there he went through The Shetland Roll of Honour entry for several of those "little border affairs", but Thomas Hardy. always came out scathless.

In Egypt he became prominent as one of the best athletes in the army there. In all the running competitions young Hardy carried off first prizes, and shortly before his regiment left for France he forwarded to his father six gold and silver medals won by him on the racing track. That Private Hardy was a man of signal intelligence was clearly shown by the letters published in this journal. He was a teacher in the Army, holding a first-class certificate for education. He was a life-long abstainer, and held several badges from the Army Good Templar Lodge.

As will be seen from the portrait we publish above, Hardy was a handsome, bright- looking lad, and a wide circle will extend their sincere sympathy to the parents of this young hero, who has fought so valiantly for his country, and has given his life for the cause of right and freedom.

The following is a copy of the communication received by the late Private Hardy’s father:

"Sir, – It is my painful duty to inform you that a report has this day, (17th November), been received from the War Office, notifying the death of number 10017, Private T. Hardy, Gordon Highlanders, which occurred at Ypres on the 1st of November, and am to express to you the sympathy and regret of the Army Council at your loss."

The cause of death was given as "Died of wounds in action".

A message pinned to the top of this intimation reads as follows – "The King commands me to assure you of the true sympathy of his Majesty and the Queen in your sorrow. – Kitchener."

His loss was a local loss, but yet so symbolic of similar local fatalities throughout Britain, and Europe, at a time when the realisation had come that this war was not going to be over by Christmas 1914. Thomas would not see another Christmas, but men from his Battalion were to take part in the Christmas Truce of 1914.

On 26 December 1914, Private James Peterson wrote about Thomas Hardy in the Shetland News:

I was sorry to hear of the death of Pte Hardy. I saw him after he was wounded, only for a few minutes, but he could not speak, and when I called to see him a few days later had passed away. Poor fellow! He rests in a beautiful grave covered with flowers. He was a very nice fellow.

We can only assume that Thomas was buried, then his body subsequently lost and churned up within the quagmire and mess that was the Ypres Salient.

The area where he was buried was lost to the British in 1915 and was fought over a total of four times. It was not surprising that his remains were lost, especially if he was buried close to where he was wounded. This was not uncommon at this time. But even if his grave was further afield many cemeteries around this area were lost in the fighting of 1915-1917. To visit the Western Front, you will discover many cemeteries where men are 'believed' to be buried in them.

As well as Thomas, his two brothers were Charles, aged 25, lost by the sinking of his ship SS North Wales of Penzance on 24 October 1916, and William David, accidently drowned at Calcutta whilst serving on SS Bylands.

Throughout the war, there was reference later in local press about the impact on families of losing an only son, and the understandable significance of such a blow. Thoughts about what impact this had upon Mr and Mrs Hardy, as well as many other parents throughout Europe, is beyond the realms of any human understanding.

Thomas’s name is on Panel 38 of the Menin Gate. You will have to look up high to find it with your neck almost looking up into the roof. He is there amongst the endless names. He is not alone since above him is a J Hardy. Some of his local kin are also there including James Spence killed in May 1915, with two other Shetland Gordons killed at Third Ypres in 1917.

Building the Menin Gate

The Gate was found to be too small when the names were being 'carved' on the panels. As a result, the missing on the panels are from August 1914 until August 1917. A further 35,000 names are on the Missing Memorial Wall in cemetery who disappeared between August 1917 and the end of the war. Stone masons from Scotland who were carving the last panel of the Gate were captured by the Germans when they entered the town in June 1940 and remained POWs until the war was over. Other Shetlanders recorded on the Menin Gate were to be lost at the Second and Third Battle of Ypres, whilst more still from that Battle are commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Against this mammoth structure of Remembrance, it is difficult to comprehend the unfathomable scale of the war that occurred on this landscape almost one hundred years ago. Here we were in Belgium near the north of what was the Western Front. From here down to the border of Switzerland, we knew that trenches continually stretched. Now there are mostly fields, arable farm country with little evidence of the maelstrom, apart from the continual cemeteries. Somehow one’s mind starts to contemplate the continual line of front line, communication and support trenches – not to mention tunnels – that would stretch for miles behind the front line. At this point, it is best to stop for a coffee and reflect.

There are many ways to tour the Western Front Battlefields; either through a larger tour operator or smaller one. An option is to go for the larger tour operator and obtain a wider feel of the whole Western Front and the major battlefields. If you want to find out more about your own family story, opt for a smaller scale tour tailored to your needs. The result was that we got out and about onto fields and got shoes dirty, rather than sitting in a bus and just looking at the scene from a distance. Given the personal journey upon which we embarked, to have done anything else would have probably cheated us out of what we wanted to achieve. Most tours will offer the opportunity to visit the Menin Gate and experience its evening ceremony. With this congregation over for another night, people dispersed to go their own way, to go back to whatever it was they were doing, or wherever it was they were going. We rushed on as we had a big day ahead of us further south. We left and thought about the ceremony at the Menin Gate.

As folk gather at our own Shetland War Memorials on Remembrance Sunday this year, it is worth reflecting upon men such as Thomas Hardy. The following speech was by the former Convener J W Robertson upon that unveiling of the Shetland War Memorial in 1924:

We rear this memorial to keep alive the spirit of noble sacrifice, and we cherish the hope that it may prove to be a new stone in the Grand Temple of universal peace. It is over five years now since the Armistice was signed. They have been years of disillusion. The 'War to end Wars' was fought and yet we seem as far as ever from lasting peace. We have just been celebrating Christmas with its divine message 'Peace on earth good will to men' and the gospel of the Prince of Peace gives us the only hope that the world has of the substitution of reason for the arbitration of force in the settlement of international disputes. May the bugles sound the truce of God to the whole world forever. May the iron belt of martial ardour which still encircles the earth be exchanged for the golden girdle of peace. In every hamlet, in every township, city and county, memorials to our Honours dead have been erected. Are we to understand that having done this, our duty to them is over? Are we to believe that when this unveiling ceremony is completed nothing more is required of us? I pray Almighty God that surely may not be the case. I pray we have a higher and noble conception of our duty. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the great tasks before us; that from these honoured dead we highly resolve that they shall not have died in vain, but that the nation and the whole earth shall, under God, have a new birth.

Prior to construction of the Shetland War Memorial, there had been some dispute about its final design with strong opinions written in the letters pages of the local press. Likewise, the Menin Gate, had much opposition from those that served. One outspoken critic was Siegfried Sasson. Poet of the First World War Siegfried Sassoon, most remembered for his poems of anger and compassion, visited Ypres on a trip to France in 1927. He classed the Menin Gate as a '... mere sightseers' centre'. While he was visiting it he understandably wept. Out of this came the poem On Passing the New Menin Gate.

Who will remember, passing through this Gate, the unheroic dead who fed the guns? Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate, those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones? Crudely renewed, the Salient holds its own. Paid are its dim defenders by this pomp; Paid, with a pile of peace-complacent stone, The armies who endured that sullen swamp. Here was the world’s worst wound. And here with pride 'Their name liveth for ever', the Gateway claims. Was ever an immolation so belied as these intolerably nameless names? Well might the Dead who struggled in the slime Rise and deride this sepulchre of crime. Siegfried Sassoon

Whether it is the words of former Convener Robertson in Lerwick in 1924, or those from Siegfried Sassoon in Ypres in 1927, everyone should remember such poignant reflections about conflict.

As we move towards the 100th Anniversary next year, people, communities and school pupils from all over Britain will be continuing to visit the Menin Gate; as they will surely do for one hundred years to come. Pupils from Shetland visited it earlier this year. All of this a paying of respects to local men, from our communities, whose names are carefully maintained and enshrined on stone in faraway places, who never returned.

As well as Thomas Hardy, other Shetlanders whose names are on the Menin Gate include:

Private Thomas H K Laurence, Aged 29, Service No 13517. Killed 24th April. 5th Battalion Canadian Infantry. Panel Reference 18-26-28. Son of Geo and Margaret J. Laurence, Ulsta, Yell. The 5th Canadian Infantry Battalion were in the line north east of Gravenstafel. By 26th April Gravenstafel had been captured and that is probably why Thomas is now on the Menin Gate.

Private David, Kay Tulloch, Aged 20, Service No 2458. Killed 27th April, 1915. 5th Territorial Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. Panel Reference 8 and 12. Son of Thomas and Helen Tulloch, 32 Linskill Terrage, North Shields. Formerly of the Shetland Battalion, as part of the 50th Division, were positioned north of Wieltje and to the south-west of St Julien on 26th April 1915.

Corporal James Spence, Aged 22, Service No 3/7175. Killed 20th May 1915. 1st Gordon Highlanders, Panel Reference 38. Son of Mrs T Spence, 13 Lochrin Terrace, Edinburgh. Formerly of Lerwick. Between 13th and 24th May the 3rd Division were situated to the south of Ypres between Vierstraat and St Eloi.

Private George Leisk, (Recorded as 'Leask' on CWGC) Aged 37, Service No 420634. Killed 13th June 1916. 16th Battalion Canadian Infantry. Panel Reference 24-26-28-30. Son of Jane and Peter Leisk, Glenfarquhar, Lerwick. Killed in action during the Battle of Mount Sorrel on 13th June 1916.

Note: These are just the names of Shetlanders on the gate before the Third Battle of Ypres, 31st July, 1917.