Day 3 – Bruges and Ghent – Flanders Fields and Ypres

After a free morning in Bruges, our group departed for a tour of Flanders Field and the city of Ypres to ponder the lessons of World War I. This was the description of the excursion:

Contemplate the legacy of World War I during a cemetery visit and time at the In Flanders Fields Museum. Pay your solemn respects to those who gave their lives at the Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial, where 411 US service members are buried or commemorated. Afterward, learn about the futility and consequences of the war during a self-guided tour of the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres. Here, you will receive a "poppy bracelet" containing the personal stories of four individuals who lived during the war. After dinner in Ypres, stop to view the Menin Gate, where the names of more than 50,000 missing British and Commonwealth soldiers are carved on its walls. Since 1928, every evening at 8 PM the buglers of the Last Post Association sound the “Last Post” under the gate’s arches. After this solemn ceremony return to your hotel in Bruges.

Our first stop was the Flanders Field American Cemetery, the only American World War I military cemetery in Belgium. Since 1923, local Belgian school children have maintained a tradition of honoring the American soldiers buried here by "adopting" a grave, regularly tending to it, placing flowers, and singing the U.S. national anthem during annual Memorial Day ceremonies to ensure the fallen are never forgotten. We learned the story of two soldiers buried here, which really personalized this visit.

Flanders Field American Cemetery

Next was a visit to the location where Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, soldier, and poet, was stationed and where he wrote his famous war poem, In Flanders Fields, after he witnessed the horrors of battle and the loss of a close friend.

Memorial to John McCrea

At the In Flanders Fields Museum, our next stop, we saw powerful displays and images that made us confront the horrors and futility of war. It’s the first military museum that I’ve visited that does not glorify war, and this message was especially timely for me today. I was especially interested in seeing works by artists who used their craft to protest the war.

Exhibits at the In Flanders Field Museum

Also interesting were the examples of remembrances and commemorations that were instituted following the war, many of which continue to this day.

Examples of Memorials and Commemorations at In Flanders Field Museum

After touring the museum, we had free time to wander around Ypres, the city at the center of the Flanders Field conflict, which was mostly destroyed during the war. I was able to appreciate the grandeur of the Cloth Hall, in which the museum is located, and which was reconstructed after the war.

Cloth Hall, Ypres, Belgium

To further ensure that the war would not be forgotten in Belgium, the city of Ypres constructed the Menin Gate, a war memorial at one of the entrances to the city. We remained in the city so that we could attend the "Last Post."

This evening at exactly 8:00 pm, like every other evening since 1928, the police halted traffic passing under the Menin Gate so that four buglers could play their simple but moving tribute to the memory of the soldiers who fought and died here so many years ago. It was a moving ending to a sobering and emotional day that brough home the words “Lest We Forget.”

The "Last Post" at Menin Gate