A group of 18 of us spent one March night in Ypres, either side of which we attended the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate and the Dedication of the Plaque in St George’s Memorial Church which commemorates the sacrifice of 11 Old Cranleighans in the Ypres Salient in World War One.
The Dedication Service was conducted by Cranleigh’s Chaplain, the Revd Phil Parker, in the presence of Fr Ray Jones (Chaplain of St George’s), OCs Nick Meyer, Allen Dean and wife Heather, Mike Fawcett and wife Wendy, John McDermott, Richard Sale, Peter Wylie-Harris, David Willis, Oliver Weiss and Mark Soutter, and also Hilli Waller, Phil Parker, David Waters, Mike Payne, Jim Mason, and two great-nephews of one of the 11, Matt and Tim Payne.
Some of the graves of the 11 were visited, divided among six cemeteries. Four are among the 89,788 names of the missing recorded on the Menin Gate and at Tyne Cot. Reflecting afterwards, Richard Sale wrote this poem:
Tyne Cot Cemetery, March 2009
To the Memory of the 11 Old Cranleighans who fell at Ypres 1915-1918
Silent and still the stones stand
Close-ordered, in thousands, rank upon rank,
Looking down the slopes won at such cost
To the spires of Ypres undefeated, risen again.
Yes, there is death here –
Young death in appalling numbers –
But there is so much more than death :
A reminder of old virtues now too little remembered,
Loyalty, honour, obedience and self-sacrifice.
There is a peace here too, all these years on :
No sense of uneasy ghosts as at Auschwitz
But of men resting from a job well done
And cared for by those who tend this place,
Ever enhancing its dignity, order and beauty.
Above all, there is love –
The greater love of those who laid down their lives
For their friends in the ranks, for their country, for freedom,
For us. Can we then fail to be moved,
We, the descendants of those who fought,
As we stand silent here?
The plaque reads: “We remember with pride these 11 Old Cranleighans who gave their lives in the Ypres Salient during the Great War”, and it lists their names: Horace Bowden, John Brice-Smith, Philip Briscoe, Leslie Crook MC, Cecil Dixon, Philip Jervois, Eric Kerle, Vivian Llewellyn-Jones, William Sadler, Thomas Silk and Dennis Spink.
OCs Philip and Mark Soutter (West, 1969 and 1975) have generously offered to pay for the plaque, in memory of their OC father (who, as a child, saw many go to the front line) and their recently deceased mother.
One of the names on the plaque is Cecil Dixon (East, 1912). Christopher Dixon (East, 1955) wrote to tell me that this was his uncle. Two of Christopher’s nephews will be at the Service. Cecil joined the Royal Flying Corps and was killed on 28 November 1917 when his plane was brought down over the British lines at Ypres. He was 22. (Christopher’s OC father survived the war, but suffered severe shrapnel wounds to his right hand.) I reproduce the letter that Cecil’s Chaplain wrote to his mother – it can commemorate all who lost their lives.
France. Nov 30th 1917
Dear Mrs Dixon
It is with deepest sympathy that I write to you about the crushing blow which you have been called upon to bear in the death in action of your son, Lieut C.H. Dixon.
I cannot tell you how truly sorry the whole squadron is, or how deeply we all feel for you in this dark hour of bereavement. Your son was a universal favourite and we all loved him.
Major Rodwell will have told you of his inestimable worth as an observer, and of the splendid work which he has done during the heavy fighting up here. I can only add my humble tribute to his memory.
Though the war has robbed you of your son, nothing can rob you of the pride which you will always have in the glory of his death. He has indeed made the noblest sacrifice which man can make, in thus giving his life to defend the honour and safety of his Homeland and to uphold the cause of Right and freedom.
He has followed in the footsteps of Our Lord, along the selfsame path of duty and self-sacrifice that He once trod, and like Him, he has given his life to bring peace to the world.
He has not died in vain, for upon such acts of devotion a new and better age is being built.
Bitter though his loss is now, yet we know it is not for ever. He has but gone a little ahead, he has met his Pilot face to face and passed with Him from the storm of the open sea to the peace of the Inner Harbour, where one day you will find him again.
We laid him to rest in the little military cemetery near Proven – north of Poperinghe – and loving hands will tend his grave.
May God help you to bear this great sorrow with the same courage as your boy laid the offering of his life upon the altar of Patriotism – and may He fill your aching heart with His divine comfort.
In true and tender sympathy,
Believe me,
Very sincerely yours, M.P.G. Leonard – Chaplain C. of E., attd. No 9 Squadron R.F.C.
The Dedication Service will be on the morning of Wednesday 11 March. Christopher and Mark hope to be present. So do Phil Parker (School Chaplain), Nick Meyer, Mike Fawcett, John McDermott, Allen and Heather Dean, and your Editor. We will probably travel by small bus on the 10th, stay one night, and return after the Service. Others of course welcome – please contact me if you would like to come.
As a telling reminder that there are two sides to every war I was delighted to receive this from Peter Jaffe (1 North, 1980): “I was interested to see the article about the OC memorial in Ypres. Interesting for me as my grandfather (Max’s father) was in the first battle of Ypres, but on the German side! Luckily for all he was injured and had to retire for the rest of the war. The bullet was removed in the 1960s.”
And remember that the Jubilee Pavilion, originally funded by the OC Society in memory of our Great War dead, is being altered and restored. The work will be completed by Easter, and the pavilion will be officially opened on OC Day and renamed The Memorial Pavilion.