PASSCHENDAELE REFLECTIONS
Guard mounted at Menin Gate
The streets of the Belgian town of Ieper echoed to the strains of Waltzing Matilda and the tramp of marching Australian troops in a special ceremony to commemorate the nation’s missing soldiers from the Great War.
A contingent from the 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment, mounted the guard at the traditional Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate.
The famous service began in 1928 and is held at 8pm daily to pay tribute to the more than 54,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers recorded on the Menin Gate who fell in the Ypres Salient and have no known graves.
The Vice Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, was among the dignitaries in attendance.
The hundreds of people at the ceremony were told that the names of 6195 Australian soldiers are chiselled in stone on the magnificent memorial.
Two musicians with the 51 FNQR contingent performed during the event. Musician Adam Cameron-Taylor, of the Royal Military College Band, and Sergeant Rod Fry, of the Australian Army Band Brisbane, led the soldiers from the Cloth Hall – a prominent landmark in Ypres – along the picturesque cobbled street to the Menin Gate.
At the Last Post service, Musician Cameron-Taylor played a selection of tunes on the bagpipes and Sergeant Fry played The Rouse on the bugle.
Both also featured at the ceremony the day before to re-inter the remains of five Australian World War I soldiers at the Buttes New British Cemetery at Polygon Wood.
“Yesterday it was about making sure we paid appropriate respect to the people we were burying, tonight was all about remembering those who we don’t know where they are,” Musician Cameron-Taylor said.
“It was special for me because I had a great-uncle who served here with the 3rd`Pioneer Battalion. Fortunately he made it back home, but plenty didn’t.
“This would have to be a career highlight. I’ve played at services for Korean and Vietnam veterans, but this is something else.”
Sergeant Fry said: “It was a very special occasion and a great privilege, especially considering it has been going on for so long. It gave me a sense of honour to play at the Menin Gate and at the re-interment. I’ve played at a lot of funerals, but this is number one. The only thing I want to do now is play at Gallipoli.”
Musician Cameron-Taylor played a stirring rendition of Amazing Grace as wreaths were laid by Lieutenant General Gillespie, Major General Michael O’Brien (retd), 51 FNQR Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Evans, and relatives and representatives of the five Diggers who had been laid to rest in permanent graves.
Lieutenant General Gillespie said the ceremonies at Buttes New British Cemetery and Menin Gate were a significant part of “our military heritage and culture”.
“The Battle of Passchendaele was the most bloody battle in Australia’s military history – there were more lives lost here than in France and Gallipoli,” he said.
Related imagery: Guard mounted at Menin Gate