Flanders Fields

As a history teacher, I have spent years learning about the horrors of trench warfare, and the destruction that man has wrought on man.  I took a World War One battlefields tour in Belgium, and found it fascinating and heartbreaking and complex and awful.  We visited a cemetery maintained by German volunteers for German soldiers killed in battle, as well as many Commonwealth cemeteries and memorials erected by the respective governments of the soldiers who fought.  We also saw some of the main fields, which today are lush green rolling hills (although farmers are still unearthing un-exploded shells and live artillery), but in 1914-1918 were barren wastelands of trench warfare.

The day that I went was cold, windy, and rainy.  It was miserable to be above ground, outside for 25 minutes in a fleece jacket and waterproof shoes.  It give me a tiny glimpse into the lives of soldiers who spent 12 hours in trenches, standing in 18 inches of muddy cold water, listening to ongoing shell explosions, without enough food.  I've read a lot about this, but being there brought it home for me.

Lunz, Michael on one of the German war memorials- maybe a distant
relative of my German great-grandpa Lunz?

The Memorial cemetery maintained by the Germans in
Belgium- here, soldiers were buried together, regardless
of class or rank.

The one of the five Commonwealth cemeteries in Belgium, all maintained
by British volunteers.  These include soldiers from the entire Empire in
1919- The UK, Canada, NZ, Australia, India, Uganda, etc

WWI was the first war to use weapons that would annihilate the bodies
of soldiers,  often leaving their remains unrecognizable.  Because of this,
dogtags were employed in WWII and beyond.  But many of the graves in
the cemetery say only, "A solider of the Great War, known unto God."

At the field medical station where Dr John MacCrae helped to triage patients coming
in from the trenches, there is a copy of his handwritten poem "In Flanders Field."