Honestly, until we toured Flanders I didn’t fully comprehend the concept of missing in action. Somehow I equated missing as forever gone. The soldiers who died in Flanders during WWI are not forever gone, they are just not yet found. Even now bodies are being discovered.
In the fall of 1916 two brothers, John and Jim Hunter from Australia, joined the Allied Forces. They served together in the 49th Battalion in Flanders. John was critically injured in an explosion and died in the arms of his brother. Jim lovingly buried his brother wrapped in a ground sheet in a temporary grave and promised that he would return. Grief changes but never leaves. Jim returned to Belgium but in the torn-up landscape, he had no idea where to start digging for the body. It is said that Jim was haunted by his unfulfilled promise and that his last word as he passed many years later was John. The name of John Hunter was listed on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing for 90 years. That changed in 2006. During road works to lay a new gas pipeline in the hamlet of Westhoek in 2006 a machine operator suddenly stopped digging —he had found human remains from WWI. Of the five bodies found one had been more carefully buried than the rest. He was wrapped in a ground sheet with his hands placed over his heart. DNA identified the remains as John Hunter. Finally, John could be buried in a marked grave with military hours. Brothers serving together was not uncommon. Ray’s grandfather’s brother, Percy Homewood, lied about his age and followed his brother Leonard. Fortunately, they both came home. To honour families who sacrificed many sons a memorial has been created with a sculpture modelled after John and Jim. Another way to remember the fallen. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. If you want to know more about the memorial check out this link: https://youtu.be/11275qer4xI?si=sEtXrtzYdJC1MpVg
18 Comments
KB NPW
4/26/2024 01:21:20 pm
Rouphly, how many statues do you think there were?
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Diane
4/29/2024 03:43:26 am
We visited eleven sites and they all had at least one statue. Most had more than one. That doesn’t even began to cover it. There are statues everywhere. So many people died there from so many countries and every country wants to honour their dead. .
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Npe d
4/26/2024 03:40:29 pm
How many graves were there in Flanders?
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Diane
4/29/2024 03:48:59 am
We went to many gravesites. The Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial Wall: has 12 000 on its own! The German gravesite we visited had 44 000 bodies. The web tells me that during the four year battle over to 600,000 soldiers were killed or went missing in this part of Belgium.
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LGE
4/29/2024 09:50:48 am
where is his memorial?
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Diane
4/29/2024 03:11:20 pm
Near a cemetery called Polygonwood where he is now buried.
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NPW A
4/29/2024 10:32:40 am
How many statues do you think there were?
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Diane
4/29/2024 03:12:08 pm
We visited eleven sites and they all had at least one statue. Most had more than one. That doesn’t even began to cover it. There are statues everywhere. So many people died there from so many countries and every country wants to honour their dead. .
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Tyler
4/29/2024 10:33:13 am
I remember visiting Holton and seeing graves that said "A soldier of the 1939-1945 war, known unto God." It made me sad to know that the body did not have a name to go with it. Soldiers gave so much.
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Diane
4/29/2024 03:26:57 pm
Although there are a lot of videos on line regarding WWI in this area I didn’t find anything that visits virtually.
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Npdw F
4/29/2024 10:34:29 am
What was the biggest statue there
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Diane
4/29/2024 03:28:17 pm
There were bigger monuments but I think the Canadian (brooding soldier) was probably the largest single figure we saw.
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NPW E
4/29/2024 11:23:40 am
Were the brothers buried near each other?
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Diane
4/29/2024 03:45:23 pm
John Hunter was only in the war about two years before he was killed. His brother Jim survived the war so was probably in around four years. Jim died back in Australia many many years later and is buried there. John, as you know, is buried in Flanders.
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NPW Group C
4/29/2024 11:29:49 am
How Long did Ray's grandfather's brothers serve in the war?
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Diane
4/29/2024 03:46:39 pm
Both Ray’s grandfather and his grandfathers brother served 2015-2019. He is going to talk more about that when he visits.
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HLOE
4/30/2024 06:43:36 am
That’s so sweet the pictures of the brother do you think that’s sweet?
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Ray
4/30/2024 08:41:42 am
Not sure if I would call it sweet, but it truly is a sad and moving story.
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AuthorRay & Diane Homewood |