WW1 Battlefields

Posted: 15/10/2018

Ellen A, Sebastian H, Henry J and Henry M joined Mrs Adams and Mr Unterhalter from the English Department on a reflective visit to the World War One Battlefields. The students won their place on the trip for their creative writing entries, as judged by Philip Bowen, retired Deputy Headmaster and Nikki Thorpe, our archivist.

The first stop was at Belgium’s Lissenthoek Cemetery, where the vast majority of the 9,200 Commonwealth War Graves were identified, these soldiers having died while being treated at nearby field hospitals and clearing stations. It was a great honour for the four Bromsgrovians to take part in the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate that evening. The following day started with a visit to a German cemetery, Langemarck, which is the resting place for 44,000 German soldiers. The group then visited the largest Commonwealth Cemetery in the world at Tyne Cot where the majority of the 11,900 graves are unidentified. On the memorial to the missing at the back of the cemetery, pupils found the names of two notable Old Bromsgrovians whose bodies have never been found from the Battle of Passchendale: Lt Albert Edward Brazier and Lt Donald Court Halsall.





A visit to the tunnels at Arras and the discovery of Charles Whitley, OB, in a nearby cemetery ended day two. Henry Mitchell was proud to leave his School tie as a gesture to Charles who was also a member of School House.



On their final day, the group woke early and paid a quick visit to Delville Wood, home of the last remaining hornbeam tree at the South African memorial. They then revisited Lt Kidd’s grave, one year on from the dedication ceremony. Finally, a moving visit off-road through the Somme fields to see the enormous Thiepval memorial, the world’s largest monument to the missing of war: 72,000 names of men missing just from the three month Battle of the Somme in 1916. Mr Unterhalter was able to find the name of a relative, as was student Ellen.



As the sun shone down on the peaceful French countryside, the group remembered those who gave their lives in the conflict and it was a quiet journey home to Bromsgrove.