The Menin Gate: 100 Years of Commemoration
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The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October and November 1914.
The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates casualties from the forces of Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and United Kingdom who died in the Salient prior to 16 August 1917.
The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Plumer on 24 July 1927.
This talk will give an introduction to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Menin Gate before and after the First World War, the Battles of Ypres, the design and completion of the memorial, and how it is today. It will also tell the stories of some of those commemorated on the Menin Gate.
Our speaker will be David Walker
David enlisted in the Royal Air Force Regiment in 1978 and was commissioned in 1998. During his extensive RAF career, he saw operational service in the Falklands Islands, Northern Ireland, and both Gulf Wars. He was a member of NATO air forces tactical evaluation teams and British Army training teams in Canada.
After the RAF, David was the regional head of emergency planning for the NHS, and during the Covid pandemic, he was the Chief of Staff in the National Covid-19 Response Centre with the UK Health Security Agency.
He is a passionate genealogist, a student of military history, and is the ceremonial Standard Bearer of his local Royal British Legion branch; is a volunteer with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and is a volunteer tour guide with the Museum of Cambridge.
Find out more at the Old Willingham meeting on Monday the 29th March at 7.30pm in the Social Club £5 cash or card on the door.
The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates casualties from the forces of Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and United Kingdom who died in the Salient prior to 16 August 1917.
The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Plumer on 24 July 1927.
This talk will give an introduction to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Menin Gate before and after the First World War, the Battles of Ypres, the design and completion of the memorial, and how it is today. It will also tell the stories of some of those commemorated on the Menin Gate.
Our speaker will be David Walker
David enlisted in the Royal Air Force Regiment in 1978 and was commissioned in 1998. During his extensive RAF career, he saw operational service in the Falklands Islands, Northern Ireland, and both Gulf Wars. He was a member of NATO air forces tactical evaluation teams and British Army training teams in Canada.
After the RAF, David was the regional head of emergency planning for the NHS, and during the Covid pandemic, he was the Chief of Staff in the National Covid-19 Response Centre with the UK Health Security Agency.
He is a passionate genealogist, a student of military history, and is the ceremonial Standard Bearer of his local Royal British Legion branch; is a volunteer with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and is a volunteer tour guide with the Museum of Cambridge.
Find out more at the Old Willingham meeting on Monday the 29th March at 7.30pm in the Social Club £5 cash or card on the door.
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Where is it happening?
Willingham, CB24 5LH, 20c Fen End, Cambridge, CB24 5, United Kingdom
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherOld Willingham
