One of the many tour guides operating in the Westhoek is ebullient Irishman Willie Mohan, a former British Army soldier and London police officer. After more than 30 years on the beat, he now leads groups in an imitable style that combines an encyclopaedic knowledge of the war with an irrepressible enthusiasm for military history and inspiring stories of heroism.
Personal stories of the soldiers and reminiscences pepper his talks. “My leadership style is to both educate and entertain,” he tells me. “I could not do a trip in a coach playing a game of swivelling necks, so I make sure you see the ground the men fought over and that you get a feel of the land.”
On 17 September, Mohan leads a day-long visit to West Flanders that incorporates some of the most significant memorials, such as the Tyne Cot cemetery in Passendale and the Menin Gate in Ypres, with an afternoon of downtime at the Poperinge Beer and Hop Festival. For Mohan, this does not smack of irreverence. “These trips are not meant to be morbid. This is about remembrance and fun. The lads took every chance to get a drink down their neck whilst over here. They would not want us traipsing around their battlefields and cemeteries getting all dark and brooding. No, if they are watching, as I think they are, they would want you to have a great time while never forgetting them and their sacrifice.”
The Saturday tour will start at Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. It contains nearly 12,000 graves of soldiers from the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Built on the slopes on which the allied troops attacked Germans entrenched on the surrounding ridge, it is an atmospheric reminder of the incredible military feat that was Passchendaele.
“When you stand by the blockhouses, you can see the fantastic killing fields of fire that the Germans had. On a quiet evening, you can almost imagine the men struggling through a sea of mud up this gentle slope into a gale of machine and artillery fire. The courage of the men is almost palpable. As we know, courage is not being unafraid of death, it is being very afraid and being able to conquer that visceral fear.”
The accompanying museum is a moving testimony with its collection of letters home accompanied by photos of many of the men buried there. The names of all the buried are eerily announced from underground speakers as you enter.
It is followed by a tour of Talbot House, the sanctuary for soldiers known by its army signal code Toc H and named after the brilliant scholar Gilbert Talbot. The son of the Bishop of Winchester, Talbot was killed in 1915 in Hooge, just outside Ypres. Talbot House was a place where all ranks could come together and escape the horrors by reading, writing and singing. “In this house, the words ‘abandon rank all ye who enter here’ were emblazoned over the door,” says Mohan.
The town of Poperinge was also a popular rest and relaxation spot for soldiers with its bevy of bars, cafes and concert halls. Surrounded by 200 hectares of hop fields it now hosts a prestigious three-yearly beer festival. After a couple of hours sampling the region’s finest brews and local gastronomy, the tour resumes at Ypres with a visit to Saint George’s Memorial Church and the In Flanders Fields Museum before concluding with the poignant last post ceremony at Menin Gate, the memorial dedicated to more than 55,000 men killed with no known grave.
“It is without doubt one of the most moving ceremonies I have witnessed,” notes Mohan. “To this day, it does not lose its emotion. When the bugles sound that plaintive lament, one only has to close one’s eyes, and the men are marching under that gate up to the salient, as writer Philip Gibbs said: ‘With their rifles slung and their pipes aglow on the road to the Menin Gate’.”
The renewed interest in the stillnightly ceremony represents the increased interest in the First World War, according to Mohan. He recalls a moment during the Falklands War when he arrived with fellow police officers on a day that British soldiers who died at Goose Green were being buried. “It was a baking hot day when 20 of us arrived, to be greeted by two civilians on bikes. One handed over his bike for his friend to hold and produced from a bag a bugle. He played the last post and was gone almost before the last notes had died away. We were the only people there.”
That was 29 years ago, “but in the last 15 years, the Great War has taken off in the most phenomenal way,” he says. “After speaking to numerous people from battlefield tours, the one constant is remembrance and a search for a bygone era.” At the Menin Gate, “buglers are in full regalia, and large crowds from all over the world attend every night.”
For Mohan, the Ypres Salient represents the ultimate sacrifice. “The British Empire forces were outside of Ypres for the best part of four blood-soaked years. The Germans looked down from three sides at them. It became in the end a matter of honour to hold their position during four shattering battles. The lineage and sacrifice of all these great men – for they were truly great. The least of them was a better man than me.
Flanders Today and WM Tours invite you to join us for a tour of West Flanders’ First World War sites with former soldier and battlefield historian Willie Mohan, plus a visit to the famous Poperinge Beer Festival
· Tyne Cot cemetery, Passchendaele
The largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world
· Talbot House, Poperinge
Legendary sanctuary for British soldiers in Poperinge
· Poperinge Beer Festival
Belgium’s most prestigious celebration of its kind
· St George’s Memorial Church, Ypres
Built in 1927-1929 for grieving family and survivors
· In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres
Visit the famous First World War museum before it closes for renovations
· The Last Post
The final salute that is still played every night at the Menin Gate Memorial
Tour is in English
Tour bus departs from Schuman area in Brussels
Cost: €55 - includes transport, guide, entry to Talbot House and lunch
Register by 7 September via email at editorial@flanderstoday.eu
You’ll receive information about payment after you register
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