Story
The story of Menin Gate
Every evening at eight o'clock, traffic stops beneath this arch and buglers sound the Last Post, in gratitude to the Allied soldiers who died to restore Belgium's peace and independence. The Menin Gate stands at the eastern exit of Ypres, where one of the main roads led soldiers towards the front line. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and unveiled on 24 July 1927, it is a memorial to the missing.
Its Hall of Memory carries the names of 54,395 Commonwealth soldiers who died in the Salient but whose bodies were never identified or found. Even so, it proved too small: the names of 34,984 UK soldiers missing after 15 August 1917 were inscribed at Tyne Cot instead. To this day, remains of soldiers are found from time to time in the fields around Ypres.
When they can be identified, the name is removed from the gate. Look up at the patient lion on top: the lion of Britain, but also the lion of Flanders.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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