Day 46 9 May 2015
Today we visited the new cemetery at Pheasant Wood that was
created to accommodate the bodies recovered at Frommelles. It was amazing that to be in the spot where
they were discovered and to see where they were buried and by Major-General
Mike O’Brien who led the recovery effort.
Of the 250 bodies, about 60% had been positively identified
which is a remarkable result. The bodies
were reburied each separately with full military honours. They would do 10 a day and this also allowed
relatives to attend. By coincidence two
Wilson brothers in the same unit had been originally buried side by side. It is likely that the Germans knew they were
brothers and buried them side by side.
The general told us that the woman who owned the land wanted
to give it to him which he immediately gave to the CWGC. He had not told us this during his talk on
the ship. It was quite an extraordinary and powerful movement.
We visited the Cobber Monument and VC Corner cemetery where
a lot of the Fromelles boys were listed.
There were no headstones as none of them could be identified at the time. Since their discovery and identification,
their names still have to be removed. We say the Canadian monument on Vimy
Ridge from the bus and there are many small cemeteries scattered around the place.
We had lunch in Arras, well when I say lunch I mean Subway©. We visited the Arras Museum where we go
underground 20 metres and see the preparations the British and New Zealanders were
up to. It was quite interesting. Apart
from having to wear a British helmet, there were a long series of multimedia
displays deep underground. We then visited the ANZAC Museum a private one that
although small was very professionally done.
We visited the Thiepval Memorial and interpretative centre which
records the names of 72 000 unknown British soldiers, sadly it is a huge
memorial. The Tyne Cot Cemetery.
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