tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post1111840830411530878..comments2024-03-28T12:21:46.299-07:00Comments on Roads to the Great War: The Menin Gate: 1914 – Todaysnielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10631473280484584330noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-11696566429198479232016-03-24T05:12:15.548-07:002016-03-24T05:12:15.548-07:00I agree with Adrian Roberts: whatever laudable (or...I agree with Adrian Roberts: whatever laudable (or other) purpose was served by all the deaths commemorated on the Menin Gate, it's difficult to see how they enhanced the glory of any god on either side. "To the Greater Glory of Comradeship" might have been more apposite. Yet the inscription was widely employed (Br. Empire tablets placed in French churches, and the Merchant Navy &Brian Culrossnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-40212265521984898792016-03-24T04:27:34.593-07:002016-03-24T04:27:34.593-07:00New Zealand missing are not on the gate, but at ot...New Zealand missing are not on the gate, but at other memorials, exclusive to New Zealand, including those at Tyne Cot and Polygon Wood. This was at the wish of the New Zealand government.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-85419971134618065642016-03-24T04:24:46.516-07:002016-03-24T04:24:46.516-07:00But do you know why not ALL the names are there? D...But do you know why not ALL the names are there? During the building the senior stone mason pointed out that the lettering would be so small that is would not be possible to read the highest names from the road. Field Marshal Herbert Plumer made the decision to exclude the names of those killed after 15th August 1917 (They are remembered on the back wall at Tyne Cot)so that every name would be Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-20728034795809063902016-03-24T02:56:04.371-07:002016-03-24T02:56:04.371-07:00The Menin Gate and Last Post ceremony are signific...The Menin Gate and Last Post ceremony are significant to me as this place is my uncle's memorial. He died on 12th October 1917 during the battle for Passchendaele. It is also a very significant memorial to Australians and New Zealanders as so many of their soldiers were lost in the Ypres Salient. I'll be back for the centennial memorial celebrations in October 2017. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-31642121815319865992016-03-23T15:57:37.346-07:002016-03-23T15:57:37.346-07:00The Last Post is certainly an impressive and movin...The Last Post is certainly an impressive and moving experience. <br />But I fail to see how the war or the memorial can be to the Greater Glory of God (as the inscription suggests). Many would have felt that way at the time. When Lutyens designed the Thiepval Memorial, the equivalent of the Menin Gate in the Somme area, he excluded all mention of God or Christianity. Adrian Robertsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-48557122636776520902016-03-23T14:08:24.456-07:002016-03-23T14:08:24.456-07:00I remember watching school children from Britain p...I remember watching school children from Britain placing wreaths in the monument after the nightly ceremony. Very touching. DBAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-48274371908659496402016-03-23T13:20:15.738-07:002016-03-23T13:20:15.738-07:00The ceremony is very moving. I saw it for the firs...The ceremony is very moving. I saw it for the first time in 1963 on a school trip where the landscape still looked much as it did in 1914-18. last time was 1996. The gate is a very somber place; one can feel the ghosts of Ypres there.bill o'neillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01987598176551650867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-41225482860183490752016-03-23T12:26:50.144-07:002016-03-23T12:26:50.144-07:00The Menin Gate is a somber place to visit has it h...The Menin Gate is a somber place to visit has it has the names of thousands of Commonwealth soldiers missing in action with yet even more names of the missing listed at the Tyne Cot Cemetery not too far away from Ypres. The evening ceremony is very moving and impressive!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-33312812485011604952016-03-23T09:45:31.705-07:002016-03-23T09:45:31.705-07:00This ceremony has taken place every night since 19...This ceremony has taken place every night since 1927 with the exception of that time in WWII when the Germans occupied Ypres. Attendance ranges from a couple hundred to several thousands. An impressive monument and ceremony. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com