Another early start for the Pals.

Essex Farm where Colonel John McCrae wrote the famous poem In Flanders Fields, and the final resting place of the youngest British soldier to die on the Western Front Private Valentine “Joe” Strudwick who was only 15 when he died.

Poelcappelle Cemetery where we picked the grave of an unknown soldier and tried to imagine who he was, what did he look like, was he good at football? In this cemetery 6 thousand of the 7 thousand graves the graves are unknown.

There followed a march from Crest Farm to Tyne Cott the largest British Cemetery on the Western Front in contrast was the very somber German cemetery at Langemarck where there are around 40 thousand buried in mass graves.

After this visit we had some R&R in Ypres where a vast amount of chocolate was consumed!

This evening we attended the Menin Gate Ceremony followed by two very moving private ceremonies in Perth Cemetery and Polygon Wood.