'It is the most special place': Remembrance Day ceremony held in Ypres

Thousand of people gathered at the Menin Gate in the Ypres, Belgium for Monday’s Remembrance Day Ceremony.

Belgians welcomed veterans, diplomats and visitors from around the world with open arms for a moving hour-long ceremony on a sunny morning in the historic town.

Benoit Mottrie, chairman of the Last Post Association, was the first to speak and said the soldiers will be remembered forever.

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“Today, we all still benefit from their terrible sacrifice, which is why we remember them with such gratitude,” said Mottrie.

Among the crowd was David Bartlett and his nephew Trevor Cox who made the trip from the United Kingdom.

Bartlett has been travelling to Ypres for over 30 years.

Two of his uncles who served with the British Army were killed in the Ypres area during the First World War, one in 1916 and the other in 1918 when the war was almost finished.

“It’s very special to be here in Ypres,” said Bartlett. “It’s really a wonderful place.”

Trevor Cox and his uncle David Bartlett are pictured at a Remembrance Day ceremony in Belgium on Nov. 11, 2024. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

Cox wanted to visit Belgium to carry on the family tradition of respecting their uncles.

“My two great uncles gave up their lives to protect the freedom we all enjoy now. So, it’s so important to carry on respecting and living in their honour,” said Cox.

Thousands of Canadians who died fighting in Flanders Fields are buried in cemeteries near Ypres.

The Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 was Canada’s first major battle of the Great War with more than 6,500 killed, wounded or taken prisoner.

Two years later, Canadian troops would once again prove themselves at the Third Battle of Ypres, or Passchendaele, but at a terrible cost.

Canada suffered over 15,000 casualties including over 4,000 killed on the Ypres salient.

Nicholas Brousseau, Canada’s ambassador to Belgium, lays down a wreath on Nov. 11, 2024. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

Every year on Nov. 10, the Belgium town of Zonnebeke honours those men with a ceremony and a torch parade from the Crest Farm Canadian Memorial to the municipal square.

Canadian Kelly Campbell attended both ceremonies and has been coming to Ypres since 1986.

“I just feel that it’s incumbent on me and other Canadians maybe to recognize the appreciation the Belgians show us,” said Campbell. “It’s an amazing ceremony and the 100th anniversary of Menin Gate is 2027 and I hope to make it to that as well.”

Yade Van Miegroet is a member of the Last Post Association at Menin Gate and assisted in the laying of wreaths at Menin Gate.

Yade and Van Miegroet are both volunteers with the Last Post Association in Belgium. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

She explained why the Remembrance Day ceremony is such an important event in Ypres.

“Because the ultimate sacrifice they made wouldn’t be forgotten and also there’s so much going on around the world and by this we see what we can accomplish by coming together,” said Van Miegroet.

After the ceremony, many in the crowd laid poppies and crosses next to the wreaths.

Remembrance Day wreaths are pictured in Ypres, Belgium, on Nov. 11, 2024. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

Hundreds then marched through streets to the market square where poppies were dropped from the bell tower of the Cloth Hall.

“It is the most special place as far as I’m concerned on earth,” said Bartlett.

Click here for more photos from around Ypres.

This article was produced in partnership with Visit Flanders.