I
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HEROES
t is often said that the internet allows us to experience far more than our ancestors did by taking us on virtual tours of anywhere we choose in the world. But walking silently down the hill at Beaumont Hamel on the Somme in the direction of the German line, remembering the actions of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, proved this adage wrong. The Third Form boys had just been told by our Canadian guide that on the memorial topped by the Caribou, the youngest individual, Edward Kendall, was the same age as them. We were also shown the sites of the German machine guns, and observed that there was no cover for them to hide behind. From the preserved trenches we marched down towards the Danger Tree, where many of the young men from across the Atlantic were cut down: 700 casualties out of 800 who set off. We then hastened to the beautiful Y Ravine cemetery to find the names of many who had died there. You could smell the danger, especially when you saw the ravine that sheltered the Germans when the allied bombardment was in action. Every film of the Somme pales into insignificance beside this experience of actually standing on the site of such conflict. Some had questioned the wisdom of the Headmaster’s determination, following Remembrance Day in November, to take the whole of the Third Form to Belgium and France. It would be expensive; the costs met from School funds alongside an anonymous donation. It was risky: would the boys be mature enough to understand what had gone on a hundred years ago, and why it is so important? The answer was provided in Messines Ridge Cemetery on the Sunday night as a service conducted by the Reverend Nicholas Mercer came to a close with a quietly impressive unaccompanied rendition of ‘I vow to thee my country’. The boys listened with rapt attention to the sermon; the message had got home. The plan was to look at two sectors of the Western Front, Ypres and the Somme, but also to consider different phases of the war: 1914 with the first Battle of Ypres and a visit to Langemarck German Cemetery; 1915 by visiting Hill 60, where Robert Kestell-Cornish OS earned his first MC; 1916 with a day on the Somme; and 1917 by considering the effect of mining and tunnelling at Messines and Vimy Ridge. Meanwhile, the boys apprehended the grimness of fighting in mud during a visit to the Passchendaele Experience. Museums like this and the Flanders Field Museum use the latest technology to bring the realities of warfare to life. Visitors see and hear actors saying the actual words of such figures as Fritz Haber, the “Godfather” of chemical warfare. In addition, interactive wrist bands enable visitors to select the information they want to hear. The boys responded in many different ways to the sites visited. They took some superb photographs, and we intend to display a sample of them at school in the near future. Moreover, some of the more artistic pupils were seen
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sketching, in particular at the moving Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge. This is startlingly modern in its design, with a mixture of triumph and grief portrayed: Mother Canada weeping over her lost sons. Others took themselves away from the main party to seek out sites of particular interest, such as the Indian Forces Memorial at the Menin Gate. The memorial that captured most attention was the newly constructed Ring of Remembrance at Notre Dame de Lorette, which commemorates 580,000 soldiers killed in the north of France, from both sides of the conflict. Almost every boy found their own name on the memorial, and the nationless nature of the memorial showed us that this was truly a World War, with hundreds of Smiths following cold on the heels of hundreds of Schmidts, together in death. There was only one Kestell-Cornish on the memorial and we were also made aware, partly due to the wonderful research of Patrick Francis’ book Vivat Shirburnia that this was a war that had affected our school greatly. Probably the most poignant moment came when the boys were searching for two Shirburnians on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing at Messines. ARL Tucker and GH Vacher were found one above the other, and the Headmaster laid a wreath below their names. It was wonderful to have the Headmaster there with us, and it symbolised the importance of the trip. He and two boys laid another wreath at the Menin Gate after the Last Post had been played. The drizzling rain added to the solemnity of the occasion. Curiously, two other Old Shirburnians were found next to each other here: the Sherwood Foresters’ TB Charteris and DW Ramsay. These men may not have known each other in life, but they came to rest in a little part of Sherborne in Belgium. The final morning of the trip was spent in Ypres itself, purchasing chocolate, although some boys also boasted of buying original wire cutters from the Great War. Of course the staff had not had enough History and took in St George’s Chapel with its own memorial to 225 Old Shirburnians, most of whom had been part of the huge slaughter on the Western Front. The organisation of the tour by Chris Hamon and Patrick Francis was exemplary, with a comfortable hostel, the Peace Village at Messines, acting as a splendid base for activities. The British Bulldogs and games of football would have been very similar to the games that the Tommies would have played behind the lines while waiting for, or dreading, the prospect of action. So what was the point of it all? To help us learn the lessons of history, and to remember the cost when we don’t.
Giles Reynolds Head of History