As
this year marks the centenary of the First World War battles of Arras, Messines
Ridge, Passchendaele and Cambria, sometimes known as the Third Battle of Ypres,
I felt it very important that we should do something to mark our respect for
all those who took part in this battle and by so doing also assist those from
more recent conflicts who need our help and support today.The
City of Ypres was involved early in the War and the British were associated
with Ypres throughout, being involved in all four battles which bear the name
of the town. During the war, the city was almost constantly under bombardment
and, ultimately, was reduced to ruins.
Many soldiers from all sides suffered absolutely appalling conditions in the
fields of Flanders around Ypres. Constant bombardment and underground tunneling
turned the battlefields into liquid mud where men and horses died in their
hundreds of thousands. Today, in the surrounding battlefields, there are more
military cemeteries than anywhere else in the world, such were the accumulation
of losses in the Ypres Salient. Of the battles, the largest, best-known, and
most costly in human suffering was the Third Battle of Ypres in which the
British, Canadian, ANZAC, and French forces recaptured the Passchendaele Ridge east of Ypres at a terrible cost of lives. After months
of fighting, this battle resulted in nearly half a million casualties to all sides for only a few miles
of ground won by the Allied forces .Therefore, I thought it would be both
appropriate and poignant to undertake another hand cycle to raise funds for
Coming Home, the Haig Housing Trust’s fundraising campaign to help house the
severely wounded ex-servicemen and women from more recent conflicts, many of
whom now live with the same conditions and injuries which our forbearers did a
century ago. Our small group of novice cyclists are all ex–servicemen and residents
of Haig Housing: We aim to hand cycle & cycle a route through the fields of
Flanders over the weekend of 30 June to 2 July to show gratitude and respect to
these fallen Heroes of Yesteryears.