In the footsteps of NZ heroes
Hidden, lost or forgotten stories of Kiwi courage are there to be discovered in Flanders, writes Ed Scragg.
The final stories of brave New Zealand soldiers who died 100 years ago are there to be discovered by Kiwis today, hidden, lost or forgotten among European battlefields long since overgrown, farmed or memorialised.
Among the more than 12,500 New Zealanders who died on the World War I battlefields in Western Europe was Auckland man Captain Henry John Innes Walker. The 25-year-old’s last known words,
‘‘Come on lads,’’ were spoken as he advanced under heavy enemy fire while fighting for the British Army’s Royal Warwickshire Regiment in Belgium.
Walker died in the Flanders region on April 25, 1915, as Anzac forces were landing on the Gallipoli beaches in Turkey, where about 2700 New Zealanders would die in the war. His body was lost until a 2016 excavation of a battlefield site near the Belgian town of Ypres. Archaeologists found a medallion, whistle and binoculars with the body to help identify him.
Such finds continue to occur as the trenches and no man’s lands of the 1914-18 war are excavated among today’s poppy-dotted grassy slopes and farmhouses of Flanders, where thousands of travellers visit each year. The quiet roads and village pubs in the Ypres area seem mostly travelled by small tour parties driving, cycling and riding about, exploring the sites, monuments and battle-scarred countryside.
The Tyne Cot Cemetery has 520 New Zealand graves, 322 for unidentified soldiers. A memorial commemorates 1176 New Zealanders who have no known grave.
On April 18, 2018, Walker’s descendants watched as he was buried with full military honours at the nearby New Irish Farm Cemetery. Among them was his great-nephew Allan Innes-Walker.
‘‘According to his men, Jack’s last words were ‘come on lads’ as he raised his revolver and led his company towards German lines and heavy fire,’’ he told Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
‘‘His discovery and burial are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for my children to connect to a family member and a devastating history – an unexpected and inspiring legacy.’’
Today, family stories are shared over pints by visitors to Flanders as they reflect on the war that claimed 41 million casualties with 23 million wounded and 18 million killed. In Belgium alone, 600,000 people died.
Courage under fire
Flanders Fields is a European landscape of reflection and remembrance. New Zealand memorials are scattered across the countryside, including at Tyne Cot, Buttes, Polygon Wood and Messines. They are all accessible from Ypres.
Messines, today a town of 1000 people, was in 1917 the scene of a military victory for the New Zealand forces. It came at the cost of 3700 casualties, including 700 dead.
Tasked with seizing the village in a wider engagement designed to take the Messines Ridge, the New Zealand Division met its objectives with great gallantry, and one of its number earned the Victoria Cross.
Lance-Corporal Samuel Frickleton of the 3rd Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade won the highest military honour for leading a charge against two enemy machine gun placements.
Concealed by the smoke and noise of artillery shelling, a wounded Frickleton snuck up on the first gun position before lobbing a grenade in and then charging, killing those inside.
With his comrades providing covering fire, he then rushed the second gun post some 25 metres away, killing its crew and destroying the gun. He was later wounded again and evacuated to England.
After receiving his VC, Frickleton returned to New Zealand in 1918 to a hero’s welcome.
His story lives on in modern Messines where a monument to him was unveiled in 2007 and is observed today by thousands of visitors each year.
Last Post every night
Every night in Ypres, The Last Post is played in a brief remembrance service at the Menin Gate, a memorial arch over a driveable street that pays tribute to fallen soldiers whose graves are unknown.
On an ordinary Monday night in May some 500 visitors to Flanders attended the service where 15 poppy wreaths were laid, including one by 16-year-old English Sea Cadet Connor Sherry.
Sherry was moved to buy the wreath from one of several poppy stores in Ypres after discovering on the trip a curious connection with best friend Anthony Woods, whose great grandfather had died on the same battlefield as his own.
The brief, daily public service at the Menin Gate is an opportunity for remembrance of a dark period of history.
For New Zealanders it’s an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices made by past generations that have helped shape our nation.
Among the tragedies endured by New Zealanders in Flanders is arguably the single greatest disaster in our military history, the 1917 first battle at Passchendaele, where some 843 New Zealand soldiers died in a day.
Battlefield landscape
Flanders Fields still bear the scars of war. Craters today mark areas of artillery bombardment and the occasional surface find of something small – an ammunition shell, a button or a coin.
In an archaeological dig undertaken by an experts-led team of volunteers in 2017-18, 81 bodies were unearthed at Hill 80. It was one such dig that led to the 2016 discovery of Walker.
Matching the history and geography of the area is complex so having a guide to piece it together when visiting is helpful. They can also separate the fact from Hollywood or misunderstood fiction.
The attack on Messines in which Frickleton won a VC was part of a larger Allied operation that began with the simultaneous detonation of explosives planted in 19 mines dug under German lines.
The combined 450,000kg of explosives detonated caused such an almighty bang it was recorded on seismometers in Switzerland and could reportedly be heard in London and Paris.
While the seismometers don’t lie, battlefields guide Martial Masschelein was able to explain reports of hearing it in distant countries were exaggerations.
Evidence of the giant explosion can be seen today at Hill 60, where a crater measuring 80 metres across remains from the blast detonated in a mine dug by brave Australian and Canadian tunnellers.
After roaming the battlefields, visiting the Flanders Fields Museum located inside the impressive Cloth Hall in Ypres provides an opportunity to contextualise the sites and examine artefacts.
In a digital, modern presentation of soldier- and Flanders-native wartime testimonies, visitors to the museum are left with a strong impression of the personal losses suffered in the conflict.
Modern remembrance
The Cloth Hall building that houses the Ypres Museum is a marvel. Mostly constructed in the 13th century, the 125m-long building was entirely flattened in the war under the fire of German artillery. It amounted to 700 years of history gone in one.
In time, the grand medieval marketplace was rebuilt precisely as it had been in 1914, based on old photos and plans. The reconstruction took some 34 years, from 1933-1967.
In recent years, Ypres has enjoyed about 200,000 visitors annually, highlighting the compelling stories a small town on the other side of the world can tell and mean so much to so many.
Remembrance in Flanders is an evolving notion. Last year, a modern art installation called Coming World Remember Me was unveiled highlighting the scope of the world war.
Led by artist Koen Van Mechelen, the 600,000 statues of hunched-over people sit around a large egg sculpture representing the new world born from the conflict. The posture of the small human statues accentuates the backbone of the people who gave their lives in the war – one for each of the 600,000 who died on the battlefields in Belgium.
The creation of the statues took five years and involved 120,000 volunteers from around the world. The final laying of the work involved 4000 volunteers over 50 days and was finished in March last year.
Situated in the middle of a 50m no man’s land narrow, the sculpture explains the world is a place to share. A fitting idea for Flanders, a place where so many from so far away are connected by one of the darkest periods in human history.