P A U L F O S T E R
Tank Memorial Ypres Salient (TMYS) November 2018
Tank Memorial Ypres Salient
Inauguration of the Tank Corps Garden of Remembrance, Belgium
Sunday 11th November 2018 at 5.00pm
The Tank Memorial Ypres Salient, Guynemerplein, Poelkapelle
Sunday 11th November 2018 at 5.00pm
The Tank Memorial Ypres Salient, Guynemerplein, Poelkapelle
At 5pm on 11th November 2018 (Armistice Day) the Tank Corps Garden of Remembrance, Belgium, was created and dedicated in the village of Poelkapelle, Belgium, by the Tank Memorial Ypres Salient.
Soil has been recovered from six cemeteries located in the Ypres Salient that have a close Tank Corps connection. It was donated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), in addition soil from the Armour Centre at Bovington that is the home of the Tank Corps and the Royal Tank Regiment today. Stone dust has also been recovered from an Isle and Royal Manor of Portland stone quarry adjoining the very site from where the UK National Cenotaph was quarried as were the stone for many other memorials and headstones that were created in the 1920s and 1930s. In due course the soils and dust will be mixed and placed into a large original WW1 sand bag that was donated by the Hooge Crater War Museum.
On Sunday 11th November 2018 the ‘Sacred Soil’ was transported in a serving Belgian Defence Force Artillery Battery Lynx LMV escorted by Belgian soldiers, members of the Royal Tank Regiment Association, TMYS and accompanied by an array of Standards.
The ‘Sacred Soil’ firstly attended the 11.00am Menin Gate Memorial Last Post Ceremony before taking part in a Tank Corps pilgrimage, visiting memorials, cemeteries and battlefields applicable to Tank Corps sacrifice.
Soil has been recovered from six cemeteries located in the Ypres Salient that have a close Tank Corps connection. It was donated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), in addition soil from the Armour Centre at Bovington that is the home of the Tank Corps and the Royal Tank Regiment today. Stone dust has also been recovered from an Isle and Royal Manor of Portland stone quarry adjoining the very site from where the UK National Cenotaph was quarried as were the stone for many other memorials and headstones that were created in the 1920s and 1930s. In due course the soils and dust will be mixed and placed into a large original WW1 sand bag that was donated by the Hooge Crater War Museum.
On Sunday 11th November 2018 the ‘Sacred Soil’ was transported in a serving Belgian Defence Force Artillery Battery Lynx LMV escorted by Belgian soldiers, members of the Royal Tank Regiment Association, TMYS and accompanied by an array of Standards.
The ‘Sacred Soil’ firstly attended the 11.00am Menin Gate Memorial Last Post Ceremony before taking part in a Tank Corps pilgrimage, visiting memorials, cemeteries and battlefields applicable to Tank Corps sacrifice.
During an illuminated ceremony that began at 5.00pm the ‘Sacred Soil’ will be scattered at the Memorial that will create a new Tank Corps Garden of Remembrance, Belgium, that will inaugurated. During this unique and special ceremony international opera singer, mezzo-soprano Emma Brown will perform a number of musical tributes, accompanied by the band of the West Yorkshire Police.
The Tank Memorial Ypres Salient (TMYS) is the only dedicated WWI Tank Corps memorial in Belgium. It is dedicated to the WW1 Tank Corps soldiers commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, who were killed in action or died of wounds incurred in Belgium, as well as a single Royal Tank Regiment soldier KIA in WW2 and buried in Cement House CWGC near Langemark.
The TMYS was conceived, designed and funded by Royal Tank Regiment veteran Chris Lock and his wife Milena Kolarikova BEM. The construction plan drawings were provided by Dirk Vinck. The TMYS construction was supported by the Langemark-Poelkapelle Council, the Flemish Government, the Royal Tank Regiment and a small group of local people. The TMYS was inaugurated on 10 October 2009 by General Sir Christopher Deverell KCB MBE ADC in the presence of the Regimental Colonel Lt Col (Retd) Stephen May, a contingent of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment and with musical input offered by the Ypres Surrey Pipes and Drums band.
The TMYS Garden of Remembrance includes personalised poppy crosses, one for each WW1 tank soldier commemorated by the TMYS. An additional poppy cross commemorates a single WW2 Royal Tank Regiment soldier buried nearby. The Garden of Remembrance was conceived by Milena Kolarikova BEM, who also wrote the tank soldiers ́ personal information on all the poppy crosses within the Garden of Remembrance.
Frans Hoijtink constructed the Garden of Remembrance in time for the TMYS inauguration ceremony of 2009. The crosses are all fixed in wooden beams emulating the concrete beam system used for the headstones within the CWGC cemeteries. All are set within Flanders Fields soil recovered from the Ypres Salient Tank Corps battle sites. The national flag of the United Kingdom and the Tank Corps flag are permanently raised throughout the pilgrimage/tourist season.
Frans Hoijtink constructed the Garden of Remembrance in time for the TMYS inauguration ceremony of 2009. The crosses are all fixed in wooden beams emulating the concrete beam system used for the headstones within the CWGC cemeteries. All are set within Flanders Fields soil recovered from the Ypres Salient Tank Corps battle sites. The national flag of the United Kingdom and the Tank Corps flag are permanently raised throughout the pilgrimage/tourist season.
The TMYS annual ceremony takes place at the TMYS Memorial on 7th June - the first time the tanks were used in battle in the Ypres Salient at Messines in 1917.
Why not become a Friend of the Thank Memorial Ypres Salient? Visit their website at: www.tankmemorial.vpweb.co.uk
Prayer for the Fallen
Let us remember before God,
and commend to his sure keeping:
those who have died for their country in war;
those whom we knew, and whose memory we treasure;
and all who have lived and died
in the service of mankind.
As we honour their courage and cherish their memory,
may we put our faith in your future;
for you are the source of life and hope,
now and for ever.
Amen.
and commend to his sure keeping:
those who have died for their country in war;
those whom we knew, and whose memory we treasure;
and all who have lived and died
in the service of mankind.
As we honour their courage and cherish their memory,
may we put our faith in your future;
for you are the source of life and hope,
now and for ever.
Amen.
