On Thursday, 31st May 2007, approximately thirty five Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wing Air Cadets travelled from Petersfield School to Belgium via the Channel tunnel. The visit had been arranged by the civilian committee of 1927 (Petersfield) squadron and also included a few Wing Staff officers and members of Petersfield British Legion. Cadets and staff from 457(Farnborough) and 2327 (Havant) Sqns plus several members of Hants & IOW Wing Staff and Committee attended
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The primary purpose of the trip was to attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres. The Menin Gate commemorates the soldiers of the British Commonwealth who lost their lives in the area surrounding Ypres during the First World War. The ceremony has been held every evening at 8pm since 1928 except during the period of German occupation during World War 2 when the Last Post was sounded at Brookwood Military Cemetery. The ceremony we attended was the 27,036th.
Before the evening ceremony, we visited a few German and Commonwealth War cemeteries. The first was Langemark German Cemetery where over 44,000 soldiers are buried. Of these, nearly 25,000 are in a mass grave with their names on large blocks surrounding the grave.
Our next visit was to the British cemetery of Poelcapelle where we paid our respects at the grave of the youngest known casualty, Private John Condon who was only 14 years old.
We then went on to the village of Zonnebeck and spent about an hour in the Passchendale Museum. This gave us an oversight of the battle of Passchendale in 1917. We had a chance to descend into replica dugouts complete with bunks, a communication post and an operating theatre.
A short visit to Sanctuary Wood and cemetery was the last stop before moving on to Ypres. Sanctuary Wood was so named as the wood provided cover from the enemy during the early part of the war.
We arrived in the ancient town of Ypres at approx 5pm and soon found the Chocolate shop that had been prewarned to expect us! They had several offers on to entice us to purchase as much chocolate as we could carry. Needless to say, the cadets took full advantage of this!
After enjoying a pleasant meal in the afternoon sunshine, we all met up at the Café des Halles where the owners had kindly offered us a room for changing purposes.
The whole party then made their way down to the Menin Gate to be in position for the start of the ceremony at 8pm.
Quite a crowd had gathered including a choral society from Congleton in Cheshire. The ceremony started with a bugle call by three volunteer buglers. The Last Post was then sounded and the banners lowered just as at our Remembrance Sunday services. Henry Hawkins from Petersfield British Legion then said the Exhortation followed by a minutes silence. During the laying of the wreaths the Congleton Choral society sang which made the ceremony even more moving for those present. Squadron Leader Graeme Hughes laid a wreath on behalf of the Air Training Corps. After the Reveille the standards were raised and the parade dismissed.
We then returned to the coach to commence the long journey home but all those present thoroughly enjoyed the day and agreed that it was certainly worth repeating.
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