Pilgrimage to Ieper

Our Day Pilgrimage to Ieper (Ypres), Belgium 30th May 2017

It was poignant that we went to Ypres, the cemeteries there, the battlefields, and the memorials. The Knights of Saint Columba as an organisation was born originally to support troops coming home to Scotland (Glasgow) following the Great War and it was from there that who we are and what we stand for came about.

Many of our members here is Southend-on-Sea both past and present have connections with family members who took part in that most tragic of wars. Going to Ypres gave us time to reflect, to remember and to commemorate not just those soldiers we knew of but for those we did not know.

The many parishioners from the parishes around Southend had also come along for many reasons and including former serviceman, school children (it was half term) and families looking to learn and experience such a trip for themselves.

Through hard work, our current Chairman Liam sought information about a local lad living in Leigh-on-Sea who had served in the Great War and had volunteered with the Essex Yeomanry at the very young age of fifteen. At various points of our coach journey, Liam read letters written by this local lad; Cecil Cattell, who on writing to his family had not yet reached the frontline, but was very grateful for the gifts of cake, and asked very fondly about friends and family at home.

Private Cecil H. C. Cattell of the Essex Yeomanry

Our first stop took us the town centre to allow us to get our bearings of where different sites and places were for the day and after a quick break for lunch we were driven to the vast grounds of Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing which holds 11965 burial graves (8369 are unnamed). This was a very peaceful, clean and well respected place with a very informative visitors centre.

We gathered for a Memorial Service of prayer and remembrance where we said the De Profundis prayer for the dead, a decade of the Rosary, and listened to the words of the two poems, 'A Prayer For You' and 'In Flanders Fields'.

As we approached the visitor centre (and also inside it) we listened to a recording of a child's voice reading names of those known soldiers who had died with their picture on a screen inside the centre also ensuring that those that made the ultimate sacrifice were not forgotten.

Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial

Later we visiting Hill 62 which is a farm turned into a museum where on their land was a section of British trenches dug inside woodland where injured troops were taken to receive medical attention.

The British named the wood 'Sanctuary Wood' although there were many craters around this preserved section of trenchline to suggest that the bombing did not give much respite to those taking refuge there. The rain gathering in sections of these trenches gave only a glimpse of conditions which was visibly not favourable for any length of stay for troops.

Several columns of stacked empty shells were on the grounds and the museum (a converted house) was stacked top to bottom with artefacts, weapons, empty munitions, and images of the horrors of this war especially around the Ypres Salient. One such horror was the use of chemical warfare and the different poisonous gases used on those on the battlefield with gruesome photographs showing the damage to human life this does. To think that such gas is still used today in Syria is just a sad reminder of the barbarity of humankind.

The final letters we were read were from Cecil's mother and Cecil's commanding officer. A very sad point of our trip where after Cecil had been listed as missing, and following a mothers appeal, it was confirmed that Cecil had indeed lost his life in battle. His commanding officer replied to Cecil's mother regarding Cecil's fate, and wrote,

"I had no idea your son was so young but it may be of some consolation to you to know that he died fighting like a man and a soldier".

Back in town, Saint Martin's Cathedral, for all its current splendour, had not escaped the ravages of war having been heavily damaged in World War One and an image in the Cathedral showed the damage with a troop of soldiers marching past. We did have an unanswered question though: Why is there a doorway halfway up the side of the Cathedral? (middle picture)

At the end of the day we assembled at the Menin Gate to observe the Last Post which had been played every evening since 1928 and was the 30691st time the ceremony took place.

The packed crowd were silent throughout and we were asked to go home and remember those that gave their todays for our tomorrows. The culmination of the trip was to look amongst the many regiments and the thousands of names written in stone throughout the Menin Gate. Amongst those names at the very bottom of the list of soldiers killed from the Essex Yeomanry, was a young Private by the name of C. H. C. Cattell.

Listed soldiers of the Essex Yeomanry with added emphasis.

Cecil was killed in a charge near Potijze, Ypres on 13th [14th] May 1915, aged just 16.
May he rest in peace and may we be forever grateful for the sacrifices of those millions who died for us in the Great War so that their todays allowed us to have our tomorrows.