Has Anyone Got A Photograph Of..........

[neverforget]

48 minutes ago, Michelle Young said:

Yes , well done Richard. Has anyone got your one with the yews which aren’t there now? 

Wasn't that Shrine?

[neverforget]

Here's one from me. Pretty easy for you no doubt..

[dickaren]

47 minutes ago, neverforget said:

Wasn't that Shrine?

No, posted before Shrine on 25th November

[neverforget]

On 26/11/2022 at 10:27, dickaren said:

Another with distinctive architectural steps.

Do you mean this one from 26th?

[dickaren]

1 hour ago, neverforget said:

Do you mean this one from 26th?

Yes, that's the one 26th not 25th! Michelle also posted a more recent pic in black and white

[neverforget]

2 minutes ago, dickaren said:

Yes, that's the one 26th not 25th! Michelle also posted a more recent pic in black and white

Ok, thanks.

[Marilyne]

On 20/12/2022 at 19:01, neverforget said:

Here's one from me. Pretty easy for you no doubt..

yes, very easy ... that's White House Cemetery. 

With St Jan Ieperman hospital in the back. 

M.

[neverforget]

2 minutes ago, Marilyne said:

yes, very easy ... that's White House Cemetery. 

With St Jan Ieperman hospital in the back. 

M.

Yes Marilyne. With my son at the grave of Lance corporal George Wood, Coldstream Guards, my great grandfather.

[Knotty]

Here’s one for you nf

I came across this durning  a trip to Brecon back in the summer and was just reminded of your Guards interest

[neverforget]

8 minutes ago, Knotty said:

Here’s one for you nf

I came across this durning  a trip to Brecon back in the summer and was just reminded of your Guards interest

Thanks John 👍

Very sad how boyish he looks.

[Knotty]

Just 20 years old, god how times have changed.

[Michelle Young]

Whilst we’re still pondering the one by @dickaren which is somewhere near a lesser known memorial to the missing, how about this one? 

[Marilyne]

That architectural feature rings a faint bell ... but...  

M.

[neverforget]

On 20/12/2022 at 19:38, dickaren said:

Yes, that's the one 26th not 25th! Michelle also posted a more recent pic in black and white

Is it Valley cemetery Vis en Artois?

[Don Regiano]

13 hours ago, neverforget said:

Yes Marilyne. With my son at the grave of Lance corporal George Wood, Coldstream Guards, my great grandfather.

Interestingly Steve we visited there a few years back when researching one of SWMBO's 48 men from the Manchester & County bank (H T Cooper).  His headstone is a little to the right of your great grandfather.  The associated concentration report incorrectly assigned a visiting card to an unknown who was initially buried with him and others in Armagh Wood and now with him at White House.  I know this because the card was from a colleague (Arthur Ball) who worked in the same branch as H T Cooper and died a few months earlier in a flying accident when attached to the RFC (buried in Ismailia, Egypt) and had lived in the same village as SWMBO.  Must continue our research into the 48 some time.

 

[dickaren]

10 hours ago, neverforget said:

Is it Valley cemetery Vis en Artois?

That's correct.

[neverforget]

1 hour ago, dickaren said:

That's correct.

I got a hunch from Michelle's black and white picture that it might be in a valley, so pulled up all the "Valley" cemeteries from the cwgc site. There are only 9 of them apparently. I'm not the most well travelled WF person so have to rely on clues and a very dogged approach to finding the cemeteries posted on here. It's most pleasing when a hunch pays off, and I don't have to rely on memory like most of you; if I did I would have no chance. 

[neverforget]

8 hours ago, Don Regiano said:

Interestingly Steve we visited there a few years back when researching one of SWMBO's 48 men from the Manchester & County bank (H T Cooper).  His headstone is a little to the right of your great grandfather.  The associated concentration report incorrectly assigned a visiting card to an unknown who was initially buried with him and others in Armagh Wood and now with him at White House.  I know this because the card was from a colleague (Arthur Ball) who worked in the same branch as H T Cooper and died a few months earlier in a flying accident when attached to the RFC (buried in Ismailia, Egypt) and had lived in the same village as SWMBO.  Must continue our research into the 48 some time.

 

When I was over there I visited as many cemeteries as I could, and was amazed by how many of them were idyllically located, or sympathetically enclosed by trees or the like. I was saddened to find that White House was not one of them, and I didn't like the way that modern buildings had encroached and intruded upon its sanctuary. 

[Don Regiano]

2 hours ago, neverforget said:

White House was not one of them,

On one of my lightning forays into Flanders, it seemed to me that most of thr cemeteries I visited fell into that category - or, at least seemed to be in suburbia:  Artillery Wood, Brandhoek, La Brique No. 2, Menin Road South.  I did, however, prefer the likes of Canada Farm and Ferme Olivier.  I must try to visit the less populated areas next time I visit.

[neverforget]

1 minute ago, Don Regiano said:

On one of my lightning forays into Flanders, it seemed to me that most of thr cemeteries I visited fell into that category - or, at least seemed to be in suburbia:  Artillery Wood, Brandhoek, La Brique No. 2, Menin Road South.  I did, however, prefer the likes of Canada Farm and Ferme Olivier.  I must try to visit the less populated areas next time I visit.

I think that's the thing Reg. A lot of the fighting took place in more rural areas, and consequently the cemeteries are in more picturesque settings. As we know, Ypres is a different kettle of fish, and upon being rebuilt has expanded just like other urban sites. That said, with over a hundred cemeteries in the Ypres sector, some of them are a lot more tranquil than White House. 

[chaz]

there are many cemeteries we have visited that are in towns, surrounded by housing, like Hazebrouk. Cambrin is on a main road but fields behind , a typical French built up area, long villages and towns 1 or 2 houses deep each side. Many are built on the edges of town which have not been developed around. I suppose it depends on whether a battlefield  or a CCS one.  I am slightly surprised that the further out CCS cemeteries were not exhumed and consolidated, In our area, St Hilaire in Frevent is rammed and squeezed in, just outside town is Ligny sur Canche, down the road is Filliveres, minutes down the road is St Georges, then Hesdin and Huby st Leu. Visiting battlefields Gommecourt has two, then also close by are Owl Trench, Rossignol all could have been consolidated.

But the ones we liked to browse is with the sat nav, single graves in churchyards, trying to work out why he was there, many of which probably never get a visitor.

[Don Regiano]

5 hours ago, chaz said:

trying to work out why he was there

Chaz I feel the same about Froidmont Communal.  Not a particularly pleasant one with 9 CWGC graves there.  But someone had visited - the nearest grave in the photo below shows someone had left one of those commemorative poppies.  We were visiting the seventh grave in the row: 2 Lt Leslie Ashby 2/5 Lancs Fusiliers, aged 20 at death.

 

[Michelle Young]

At least half of my April trip this year was spent visiting graves in communal cemeteries. Very rewarding. 

[chaz]

a typical community churchyard grave... any ideas?

this one is tucked away in the back corner of the yard but in all fairness, the door to the church is in front of the stone column on the right.

[neverforget]

No idea where this cemetery is; it would be nice to know. I have posted it simply because I thought it was a stunning photograph. It comes from the CWGC 2023 calender.