GOODBYE BELGIUM, HELLO SOMME

Thursday, 9 August 2018

Best Western Plus, Hotel des Francs (https://www.bestwestern.fr/fr/hotel-Soissons-Best-Western-Hotel-des-Francs-93707)

Soissons, France

65F, rainy

Traveling the French countryside by bus is quite pleasant, the fields corn, wheat, rutabaga, squash, milk cows and beef cows grazing contentedly in their pastures, the horses, mules, along the way. A woods here and there, clumps of trees. Today it is hard to imagine the peaceful countryside full of soldiers and supply teams, the sounds of shelling, and bullets firing. But when we saw two American cemeteries today, reality awakens us to the fact that Belgium and France were fields of fallen men, our country men who did not return home.

Flanders Field American Cemetery in Waregem, Belgium is nearly the smallest of all, with 368 headstones. Row upon row of Latin crosses or Star of David in Carrera marble, plus 21 unknown only to God, and 43 MIA.  Lt. Kenneth MacLeish is buried here, brother of Captain Archibald MacLeish, who became one of America’s Poets Laureate. One member of our tour read one of his poems, “The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak.” The last lines:

“They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for 
peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say, 
it is you who must say this. 

“We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning. 
We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.”   Archibald MacLeish

The Superintendent of the cemetery told us that he and others there have researched the men buried at Flanders Field, and many were immigrants, new to America and signed up for the military soon after the declaration of war. He spoke of one man whose Polish family visits his grave still today, usually Memorial Day. Other things he said that stuck with me is that they average a few families per year visiting the cemetery. However, the townspeople have adopted every grave and bring flowers regularly and attend ceremonies at least twice a year. That is very touching. It reminded me how important it is for me to honor William Hendershott at St. Mihiel.

The gate to Flanders Field American Cemetery

According to materials, Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial  were designed by architect Paul Cret. This is the only American World War I cemetery in Belgium. Many men buried here fell at Spitaals Bosschen, an action of the Ypres-Lys Campaign by the 91st Infantry Division in the closing days of World War I.

Administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission(ABMC), The Flanders Field cemetery is in the area known as Flanders Fields, where fierce fighting took place throughout the war. Canadian war poet Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote the poem In Flanders Fields  on 3 May 1915, after witnessing the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, the day before. 

Charles Lindbergh flew over the Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial on 30 May 1927, just nine days after his historic May 20–21 trans-Atlantic crossing.

Chapel at Flanders Field Cemetery

IN FLANDERS FIELDS POEM
The World’s Most Famous WAR MEMORIAL POEM
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium

“On May 2, 1915, John McCrae’s close friend and former student Alexis Helmer was killed by a German shell. That evening, in the absence of a Chaplain, John McCrae recited from memory a few passages from the Church of England’s “Order of the Burial of the Dead”. For security reasons Helmer’s burial in Essex Farm Cemetery was performed in complete darkness.

“The next day, May 3, 1915, Sergeant-Major Cyril Allinson was delivering mail. McCrae was sitting at the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Yser Canal, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, Belgium.

“As John McCrae was writing this poem, Allison silently watched and later recalled, “His face was very tired but calm as he wrote. He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer’s grave.” Within moments, McCrae had completed the poem and when he was done, without a word handed the poem to Allinson. ‘The poem was an exact description of the scene in front of both of us. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies were actually being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at the time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene.’”  http://www.flandersfieldsmusic.com/thepoem.html

Plunch
We had lunch at Plunch, a combination of fast food and a buffet. This restaurant has not perfected "fast" yet. By the time I  got my burger (sorry my gourmet friends), almost everyone was done eating. I like the name though. Tim had small slices of meats and cheese--une assiette charcuterie.

St. Quentin Tunnel

For an athletic workout we stopped at St. Quentin Tunnel--a canal system where the Germans hid in a tunnel (I am not vying for a Pulitzer here). Almost everyone walked down the steep path to the canal--we were able to peek inside. During the war it made a good hideout, but a poor defensive position if soldiers were above.

View from the top of the canal--

The St. Quentin Tunnel

 

The Somme American Cemetery with fourteen acres of beautifully cared for grounds with 1,884 graves, is located in Bony, Aise, France. Helen Fairchild is buried here. She was an American combat nurse who volunteered for front line duty--exposed to heavy shelling including the use of mustard gas, she died of complications from gastric surgery.  

The grave of  Helen Fairchild--I especially honor her story as my mother, Alma F. Hall Phillips was a  1st Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II, serving stateside.

Chapel at Somme Cemetery

Today we experienced a very rainy afternoon, but we accomplished a lot between raindrops. Lunch at Plunch in Lille was interesting but I am probably not going to give it rave reviews. Today was much cooler, but that steep brisk walk to the canal tunnel warmed me up. A nearby pillbox showed another American advantage.

Both Flanders Field and Somme American Cemeteries were stark reminders of the loss of American lives. And St. Mihiel and Meuse Argonne are yet to come.