From Flanders to The Somme...Your photographs.

[Paul Caswell]

Hi genjen,

I have been holding back my thanks 'till the end. Thank you so much for bringing these people alive, and by association, all of the others. 

Paul

[genjen]

As you can see from the last photograph, it was quite late in the afternoon by now but we knew that Flat Iron Copse  ought to be within striking distance and that we should just about get to this, the last cemetery on the list, in time to find the grave before it was dark.

Mametz it said and being too clever for my own good, I decided to take a short cut. It was nowhere to be found around Mametz. The CWCG directions also said 10k east of Albert, which would, in fact, be beyond Mametz, but on the D929, which is actually north of Albert, not east.  For the next hour we drove up and down, going into villages and out the other side, stopping at every green sign, re-reading the directions and getting precisely nowhere. It grew darker and darker and we knew that we had at least an hour of travelling before stopping for the night on our way to Auxerre, which is quite considerably south of Paris. Eventually, feeling thoroughly disheartened and disappointed at failing at the very last one, we decided that there was nothing more we could do so, reluctantly, we gave up. I know how flat I was feeling but had no idea that my partner had also become so very involved in the efforts to find all of your relatives. We consoled ourselves with knowing that we had found at least one grave or memorial for everyone who had asked.

(I did, at this point, send a text message to Lydart, asking if she could check the CWCG directions but she has had a new phone, so didn't get my message.)

We spent Friday night in a cheap and cheerful hotel at St. Quentin, then drove down to Auxerre. The hotel there had wi-fi so I spent some time checking and carefully re-writing out the directions to Flat Iron Copse. Maybe, if we were very lucky we could get there on our way back to Calais.

[K44ENF]

Jen, I am just floored by the amount that you managed to do in a few days. Thank you so very, very much for these pictures. I have been in the pas de Calais area and was astounded to see so many graveyards, including little ones all over the place that, as you say, looked like someone's back garden. At the time, I had no idea that relatives of mine had been left there.

I am sorry that I don't have a photograph of Peter Roy to post. That would have been nice.

Thank you so much, Jen. Obviously, if you need a photograph of anything in the central Scotland area, you only have to ask.  

[genjen]

Thank you Paul. As you can see, I am not quite finished but the end is in sight.....


Sunday morning, having driven two hundred miles and more on Saturday for a  stunningly good meal in our favourite restaurant in France, we had breakfast in a very rainy and miserable Auxerre and set off for the long drive back to Calais.

The weather was dreadful for most of the way, which in some respects was a good thing because we weren't even remotely tempted to do anything other than drive. We got back into the Albert area some time mid-afternoon and this time followed the CWCG directions really carefully. The directions said that we should take the right turn at the Y junction off the D929 at the 102nd Infantry Brigade Memorial. I think there have been road changes - there is no Y juction. But it also said head for Bazentin-le-Petit, so we did. At the D20 T junction, turn right and the cemetery is sign-posted immediately.....No it isn't!

But having got this close, there was no way we were not going to find it and eventually, my partner spotted, in the distance and yes, next to a small area of woodland, which the name would lead you to expect, a smallish cemetery, with the tell-tale CWCG cross clearly visible.

Fingers crossed, we headed towards it and suddenly, there was the green sign, telling us that this was indeed our final target.

As we drove up the single track road and on to what was little more than a dirt track, we saw men in the woods along side us carrying guns and when we got out of the car, there were sounds of shooting all around us. Ok, on that Sunday afternoon, it will have been pigeons or some other small creatures whose lives were being threatened and cut short but it did make me stop and wonder how it must have felt when the gun shots were directed at all of those young men.

So here, for delphi8, at the end of an extraordinary few days, is Albert James Fordham, Private 11429. Middlesex Regiment.

[Lydart]

Sorry Jen ... I'll PM you my new phone number (when I find it    )


I spend several holidays during and after my student days in the Pas de Calais, and to my utter shame, I NEVER knew all those cemeteries were so near ... DEFINITELY got to go there ... but think I'll make the trip in the summer months !

[suegill]

Thank you so much for the photo.  Sorry you had such bad weather.

Best regards,
Sue

[genjen]

And the cemetery which tried to elude us.... Flatiron Copse.

[Lydart]

My grand-daughter remarked that although they visited about six cemeteries, they never saw anyone mowing or tidying the flowers ... yet all were immaculate ...

[genjen]

We did see people working in some of them, though it will have been just clearing leaves for the most part, at this time of year.

Heavens, what am I going to do now? I feel like a person with no purpose!! Quick someone find me a project........