:00:12. > :00:16.a hundred years ago today, an attack would be launched
:00:17. > :00:19.on the fields of Flanders that would begin the Battle of Passchendaele.
:00:20. > :00:22.That name has become synonymous with a quagmire of a battlefield
:00:23. > :00:24.and the terrifying massacre of a generation
:00:25. > :00:37.who lost their lives and those who survived but bore the terrible
:00:38. > :01:04.There was no line at all - just a series of posts,
:01:05. > :01:09.The Germans would be shelling them the whole time.
:01:10. > :01:12.There was mud to your right and mud to your left,
:01:13. > :01:22.It was a terrible place, just a sea of mud everywhere.
:01:23. > :01:25.If you got off the duckboards, you'd got no chance whatsoever -
:01:26. > :01:29.you just fell in the mud, and you were drowned.
:01:30. > :01:32.All day long, one had nothing to do but to sit in the mud,
:01:33. > :01:36.shivering, wet and cold, and trying to keep up appearances
:01:37. > :01:40.in some way or another, as the shells arrived.
:01:41. > :01:44.The noise would grow into a great crescendo,
:01:45. > :01:47.and at a certain point, your nerve would break and you'd
:01:48. > :01:50.throw yourself down in the mud and cringe in the mud till
:01:51. > :01:57.As you laid down on the ground, you could literally feel your heart
:01:58. > :02:03.In a continuous bombardment, which lasted sometimes for hours,
:02:04. > :02:06.the emotional strain was absolutely terrific.
:02:07. > :02:09.Until, when you got the order to advance, it was a sort
:02:10. > :02:19.We heard one of their big ones coming over, and I was too damn
:02:20. > :02:30.Next I had a terrific pain in the back and the chest,
:02:31. > :02:33.and I found myself face downwards in the mud.
:02:34. > :02:36.And then I suddenly realised that I was alive.
:02:37. > :02:39.That if these wounds didn't prove fatal, then I should
:02:40. > :02:43.get back to my parents, to my sister, to the girl that
:02:44. > :02:52.I've seen men coming out covered in mud.
:02:53. > :02:54.They just scraped the mud from their eyes.
:02:55. > :02:57.You never wanted to go to that sector again.
:02:58. > :03:11.We've just heard vivid recollections from men
:03:12. > :03:16.Haunting memories, but their testimonies remain strong
:03:17. > :03:20.and vital in reminding us of the horrors that unfolded
:03:21. > :03:23.for humanity 100 years ago, and of the devastating human cost
:03:24. > :03:48.Earlier today, a service of solemn remembrance was held here in Tyne
:03:49. > :03:58.Cot. Almost 47,000 men of buried and commemorated on the memorial wall.
:03:59. > :04:02.They could remember their fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and close
:04:03. > :04:06.relatives who fought in the Battle of Passchendaele. Some were
:04:07. > :04:16.tragically killed and others survived to share their memories.
:04:17. > :04:25.Dan Snow is among them to tell us more.
:04:26. > :04:32.My father never talked about the feelings, the fear, the dreadful he
:04:33. > :04:37.talked about some of the awful things like having to make your own
:04:38. > :05:10.ammunition, being wet. My father joined up in 1916, as soon
:05:11. > :05:16.as he was old enough. And he was killed in 1917 foot he was 19 years
:05:17. > :05:21.old. It must be special for you being here today. It is. To remember
:05:22. > :05:28.my uncle but also to think about my father and what he went through. To
:05:29. > :05:36.have a chance to say thanks, dad. It is great for us all to have that
:05:37. > :05:41.chance. The ceremony this morning took place in amongst the
:05:42. > :05:45.headstones. The headstones were erected by the Commonwealth War
:05:46. > :05:48.Graves Commission who ensure that every grave is cared for with the
:05:49. > :06:04.respect and dignity it deserves. The British Army had no way of
:06:05. > :06:13.recording the numbers that had died. It was clear the death toll was only
:06:14. > :06:19.going to rise. Fabian and his small team began to record the burial
:06:20. > :06:22.places of British soldiers. That gradually developed into what we
:06:23. > :06:43.know as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
:06:44. > :06:50.The biggest cemetery is Tyne Cot Cemetery in Flanders. There were
:06:51. > :06:59.11,961 grades, three quarters of them were unidentified. After the
:07:00. > :07:03.end of the war, Tyne Cot was a sea of wooden crosses. Over the course
:07:04. > :07:08.of the 1920s, the War Graves Commission created the cemetery you
:07:09. > :07:13.see today than they installed the headstones and created the cemetery
:07:14. > :07:18.architecture. And, of course, the memorial. From those very early
:07:19. > :07:20.days, the commission's on this made sure it continues to be a place
:07:21. > :07:24.where people could come and pay their risk -- specs and reflect on
:07:25. > :07:28.what happened 100 years ago. They wanted to create country
:07:29. > :07:45.Gardens for this corner of England. and we still try to maintain that
:07:46. > :07:47.today. My dad started working in '46
:07:48. > :07:49.for the War Graves Commission, When you are here, you feel close
:07:50. > :08:00.to the soldiers who are buried here. There's almost 40,000
:08:01. > :08:05.herbaceous plants, 2,500 roses It takes us two days to mow it,
:08:06. > :08:12.but then you have the pruning, It's quite a job to do it
:08:13. > :08:20.but it's done with love. Beneath the Cross of Sacrifice
:08:21. > :08:23.is the Tyne Cot blockhouse, the largest German pillbox
:08:24. > :08:25.in this area. You can still see a small area
:08:26. > :08:29.of concrete within a wreath, as a reminder of how strong
:08:30. > :08:33.a position it was. Once it had been captured,
:08:34. > :08:36.it was used as an advanced dressing station to help treat those
:08:37. > :08:39.who were wounded. The majority of the graves
:08:40. > :08:43.here are in long rows, evenly spaced, and they're
:08:44. > :08:45.the graves that were But those battlefield graves around
:08:46. > :08:49.the bunker, they are exactly where they were when they were first
:08:50. > :08:52.put there, buried by their comrades The battlefield cemetery,
:08:53. > :08:59.that's my favourite part. If you stand there, I think
:09:00. > :09:05.you can feel it a bit. I'm very happy to do something
:09:06. > :09:10.for these people who made sure that we can live
:09:11. > :09:40.in a peaceful country. And the cemetery was looking
:09:41. > :09:48.beautiful. His Royal Highness the Princess of Wales joined the King
:09:49. > :10:25.and queen of the Belgians at the Tyne Cot Cemetery.
:10:26. > :10:27.# In Flanders fields the poppies blow
:10:28. > :10:28.# Between the crosses, row on row
:10:29. > :10:58.Private Edward Michael Batten of the D Company, 13th Platoon,
:10:59. > :11:26.Killed in action on the 12th of October 1917, aged 40.
:11:27. > :11:28.Second Lieutenant Frederick Falkiner Military Cross,
:11:29. > :11:31.17th Service Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles.
:11:32. > :11:34.Killed in action flying over enemy lines near Ypres
:11:35. > :11:53.Private James Munro, 1 South African Infantry Regiment.
:11:54. > :11:58.Killed in action on the 20th of September 1917.
:11:59. > :12:01.His commanding officer wrote home, "Your son was a general favourite,
:12:02. > :12:10.and we shall all miss his cheerful personality."
:12:11. > :12:13.My great-great-grandfather, Rifleman Stanley Durrant
:12:14. > :12:23.Killed in action on the 24th of August 1917.
:12:24. > :12:36.His son, my grandfather, was only three years old.
:12:37. > :12:38.My great-great-uncle Private Walter Stevenson of the 4th
:12:39. > :12:46.Killed in action on the 29th of July 1916.
:12:47. > :12:55.Private Dafydd Griffith of the 7th Battalion
:12:56. > :12:57.the King's Shropshire Light Infantry.
:12:58. > :13:01.Killed in action on the 26th of September 1917.
:13:02. > :13:10.His younger brother was killed three months later.
:13:11. > :13:14.My great-great-uncle and namesake?, Sergeant William Rhodes,
:13:15. > :13:16.Cheshire Regiment, awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
:13:17. > :13:28.Killed in action on the 31st of July 1917.
:13:29. > :13:44.100 years ago today, the Third Battle of Ypres began.
:13:45. > :13:47.At ten to four in the morning, less than five miles from here,
:13:48. > :13:51.thousands of men, drawn from across Britain,
:13:52. > :13:56.France and the Commonwealth, attacked German lines.
:13:57. > :13:58.The battle we know today as Passchendaele would
:13:59. > :14:11.We remember it not only for the rain that fell,
:14:12. > :14:16.the mud that weighed down the living and swallowed the dead,
:14:17. > :14:20.but also for the courage and bravery of the men who fought here.
:14:21. > :14:28.The advance was slow, and every inch was hard-fought.
:14:29. > :14:32.The land we stand upon was taken two months into the battle by the third
:14:33. > :14:44.It would change hands twice again before the end of the war.
:14:45. > :14:53.In 1922, my great-grandfather, King George Polona Hercog,
:14:54. > :14:56.came here as part of a pilgrimage to honour all those who died
:14:57. > :15:07.Whilst visiting Tyne Cot, he stood before the pillbox
:15:08. > :15:09.that this Cross of Sacrifice has been built upon, a former
:15:10. > :15:17.German stronghold that had dominated the ridge.
:15:18. > :15:24.Once taken by the Allies, the pillbox became a forward aid
:15:25. > :15:29.Those who could not be saved were buried by their brothers
:15:30. > :15:41.These became the headstones that are before us today.
:15:42. > :15:47.After the end of the war, almost 12,000 graves of British
:15:48. > :15:51.and Commonwealth soldiers were brought here from
:15:52. > :16:03.Today, a further 34,000 men who could not be identified or whose
:16:04. > :16:08.bodies were never found have their names inscribed
:16:09. > :16:22.Thinking of these men, my great-grandfather remarked,
:16:23. > :16:29.I have many times asked myself whether there can be more potent
:16:30. > :16:32.advocates of peace upon earth through the years to come than this
:16:33. > :16:39.massed multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war.
:16:40. > :16:49.In 1920, war reporter Philip Gibbs, who had himself witnessed this,
:16:50. > :16:51.wrote that "Nothing that has been written is more than a pale
:16:52. > :16:53.image of the abomination of those battlefields,
:16:54. > :17:01.and that no pen or brush has yet achieved a picture of that
:17:02. > :17:08.Armageddon in which so many of our men perished".
:17:09. > :17:14.Drawn from many nations, we come together in their resting place,
:17:15. > :17:23.War Graves Commission, to commemorate their sacrifice,
:17:24. > :17:33.and to promise that we will never forget.
:17:34. > :17:36.KIRSTY: The Welsh poet was killed on the first day
:17:37. > :17:51.We will now hear Rhodri Jones sing a tribute to him.
:17:52. > :18:36.# Y bardd trwm dan bridd tramor y dwylo
:18:37. > :19:19.# Wedi ei fyw y mae dy fywyd - dy rawd
:19:20. > :19:53.# Tyner yw'r lleuad heno - tros fawnog Trawsfynydd yn dringo
:19:54. > :20:00.# Tithau'n drist a than dy ro
:20:01. > :20:11.# Ger y ffos ddu'n gorffwyso
:20:12. > :20:26.# Trawsfynydd tros ei feini - trafaeliaist
:20:27. > :20:34.# Troedio wnest ei rhedyn hi
:20:35. > :21:39.A tribute in song to the Welsh poet Hedd Wyn, who is buried
:21:40. > :21:44.at Artillery Wood Cemetery alongside the Irish poet, Lance Corporal
:21:45. > :21:48.Francis Edward Ledwidge of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
:21:49. > :21:50.Ledwidge was an Irish nationalist who enlisted
:21:51. > :22:01.Both poets were killed in action, one hundred years ago today.
:22:02. > :22:10.A Soldier's Grave, by Francis Ledwidge.
:22:11. > :22:15.Then in the lull of midnight, gentle arms
:22:16. > :22:17.Lifted him slowly down the slopes of death
:22:18. > :22:21.Lest he should hear again the mad alarms
:22:22. > :22:27.Of battle, dying moans, and painful breath.
:22:28. > :22:29.And where the earth was soft for flowers we made
:22:30. > :22:34.A grave for him that he might better rest.
:22:35. > :22:37.So, Spring shall come and leave it sweet arrayed,
:22:38. > :22:48.And there the lark shall turn her dewy nest.
:22:49. > :22:55.Sergeant Walter Hubert Downing, 57th Battalion Australian Imperial Force.
:22:56. > :22:59.Men fell silent, or spoke casually, or made surly jests,
:23:00. > :23:10.Occasionally we stirred to brush the dirt from our necks
:23:11. > :23:18.Dry, heavy clods of earth flew on the air.
:23:19. > :23:21.Shells roared and moaned incessantly across the floor of heaven.
:23:22. > :23:33.Private Charles Miles, 10th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
:23:34. > :23:35.The moment you set off you felt that dreadful suction.
:23:36. > :23:38.It was forever pulling you down, and you could hear the sound
:23:39. > :23:41.of your feet coming out in a kind of sucking "plop" that seemed
:23:42. > :23:46.much louder at night when you were on your own.
:23:47. > :23:51.In a way, it was worse when the mud didn't suck you down,
:23:52. > :23:54.when it yielded under your feet you knew that it was a body
:23:55. > :24:08.Private Leonard Hart, 2nd Battalion Otago Regiment.
:24:09. > :24:12.Dear Mother, Father and Connie, in a postcard which I sent
:24:13. > :24:17.you about a fortnight ago, I mentioned that we were on the eve
:24:18. > :24:21.of a great event, and that I had no time to write you a long letter.
:24:22. > :24:24.Well, that great event is over now, and by some strange act of fortune
:24:25. > :24:30.I have once again come through without a scratch.
:24:31. > :24:36.The great event mentioned consisted of a desperate attack
:24:37. > :24:38.by our division against a ridge strongly fortified and strongly
:24:39. > :24:44.For the first time in our brief history as an army
:24:45. > :24:46.the New Zealanders failed in their objective
:24:47. > :24:48.with the most appalling slaughter I have ever seen.
:24:49. > :24:56.My Company went into action 180 strong and we came out 32 strong.
:24:57. > :25:00.Still, we have nothing to be ashamed of as our commander afterwards told
:25:01. > :25:06.us that no troops in the world could possibly have taken
:25:07. > :25:09.this position, but this is small comfort when one remembers
:25:10. > :25:14.the hundreds of lives that have been lost and nothing gained.
:25:15. > :25:26.Sister Jean Calder, Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Siding.
:25:27. > :25:29.We'd had boys coming in all week, of course, and we'd been busy
:25:30. > :25:32.but the ones we got at the weekend were in a shocking state
:25:33. > :25:35.because so many of them had been lying out in the mud before
:25:36. > :25:38.they could be picked up by the first-aid orderlies.
:25:39. > :25:43.They didn't look like clothes at all.
:25:44. > :25:46.We had to cut them off and do what we could.
:25:47. > :25:52.In a civilian hospital, even an army hospital,
:25:53. > :25:56.the man had a home quite near and relations possibly,
:25:57. > :25:59.but the wounded man on the battlefield is miles away
:26:00. > :26:06.He's in pain and he's amongst strangers, and I think that was why
:26:07. > :26:27.sympathy went out from one to the other.
:26:28. > :29:39.Private Bert Fearns, 2/6th Lancashire Fusiliers,
:29:40. > :29:42.describing an attack in October 1917 on the land we are
:29:43. > :29:50.Mr Kay came up and said, "Come on, lads, it's our turn," and we just
:29:51. > :29:54.walked round the corner of the pillbox and up the hill.
:29:55. > :29:57.The Germans didn't have much to fear from me that morning.
:29:58. > :30:01.There was no fire in my belly - no nothing.
:30:02. > :30:04.I staggered up the hill and then dropped over a slope
:30:05. > :30:09.It was here that I froze and became very frightened because a big shell
:30:10. > :30:14.had just burst and blown a group of our lads to bits.
:30:15. > :30:17.There were bits of men all over the place, a terrible sight,
:30:18. > :30:25.It was still and misty, and I could taste their blood in the air.
:30:26. > :30:32.Then an officer came across and shouted we were too far
:30:33. > :30:36.left and must go half right, I would have probably been dead
:30:37. > :30:41.These men had just been killed, and we just had to wade
:30:42. > :30:58.That's one thing I'll never forget, what I saw and what I smelt.
:30:59. > :31:00.Private Frank Hodgson, 11th Canadian Field Ambulance,
:31:01. > :31:09.The doctor and his helpers were in one, and we stretcher
:31:10. > :31:11.bearers were in another about a hundred feet away.
:31:12. > :31:14.We put the stretcher-case in a depression in the ground.
:31:15. > :31:16.He was very frightened, the wounded boy.
:31:17. > :31:20.He said to me, "Am I going to die, mate?"
:31:21. > :31:28.I said, "Don't be stupid, fella, you're going to be all right."
:31:29. > :31:30."As soon as the Heinie stops this shelling, we'll
:31:31. > :31:33.have you out of here, and they'll fix you up OK."
:31:34. > :31:35."You'll be back across the ocean before you know it."
:31:36. > :31:38.The shelling eased off, and we picked him up
:31:39. > :31:42.He died before we got to the dressing-station.
:31:43. > :31:47.On the way back we passed the remains of our number one squad.
:31:48. > :31:50.There were nothing but limbs all over the place.
:31:51. > :31:52.We lost ten of our stretcher-bearers that day.
:31:53. > :32:06.My great-uncle, Rifleman Harold Emmens, Rifle Brigade.
:32:07. > :32:18.Missing in action on the 8th of September 1917.
:32:19. > :32:23.Second Lieutenant Alexander Currie Goudie of the 9th
:32:24. > :32:30.He joined the Scottish Horse in 1914, before transferring
:32:31. > :32:42.Missing in action on the 20th of September 1917.
:32:43. > :32:46.Private Hugh Dalzell of the Royal Irish Fusiliers.
:32:47. > :32:51.Identified by a photograph he was carrying of his mother.
:32:52. > :33:02.Missing in action on the 16th of August 1917, aged 20.
:33:03. > :33:07.Private Albert James Ford, C Company, 14th Service Battalion,
:33:08. > :33:11.the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, husband to Edith and father to six.
:33:12. > :33:13.In a last letter to his wife he wrote, "Know that my last
:33:14. > :33:20.thoughts were of you, in the dugout or on the firestep,
:33:21. > :33:27.my thoughts went out to you, the only one I ever loved,
:33:28. > :33:39.Killed in action on the 26th of October 1917.
:33:40. > :33:40.Private Ernest Gays, X Corps Cyclist Battalion,
:33:41. > :33:48.Dear friend, I am addressing you as friend as any friend
:33:49. > :33:55.I thank you for sending us word of how our dear Ernest died.
:33:56. > :34:00.It is dreadful, though, to lose our dear boy in this way.
:34:01. > :34:05.We would not believe it till we had the letter from someone who saw him.
:34:06. > :34:10.Did you see my boy after he died, could you tell us how he was?
:34:11. > :34:13.I should like to know what time of the day or night it
:34:14. > :34:23.I am sure we are all the while thinking of you dear lads,
:34:24. > :34:26.hoping and praying for you to be kept safe, and then when these awful
:34:27. > :34:31.tidings are sent us, it shakes our faith.
:34:32. > :34:34.But then again when we get calm we know that God
:34:35. > :34:40.is still in his heaven and he orders all things for the best.
:34:41. > :34:42.I sent Ernie a parcel off on 21st August.
:34:43. > :34:45.If you could see anything of it, will you share what is good
:34:46. > :34:54.I shall never forget you and hope you will write often to me.
:34:55. > :35:18.Letter from an unknown German officer, September 1917.
:35:19. > :35:22.Dear Mother, on the morning of the 18th, the dug-out,
:35:23. > :35:27.containing 17 men, was shot to pieces over our heads.
:35:28. > :35:30.I am the only one who withstood the maddening bombardment of three
:35:31. > :35:35.You cannot imagine the frightful mental torments I have
:35:36. > :35:44.After crawling out through the bleeding remnants of my comrades
:35:45. > :35:46.and the smoke and debris, and wandering and fleeing
:35:47. > :35:49.in the midst of the raging artillery fire in search of refuge,
:35:50. > :35:52.I am now awaiting death at any moment.
:35:53. > :36:01.Flanders means blood and scraps of human bodies.
:36:02. > :36:06.Flanders means heroic courage and faithfulness unto death.
:36:07. > :36:27.KIRSTY: And now the German Foreign Minister will be joined by the Queen
:36:28. > :36:29.of the Belgians and the Duchess of Cambridge, and they are
:36:30. > :38:02.going to collect posies from three local children.
:38:03. > :38:08.# The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended
:38:09. > :38:15.# The darkness falls at thy behest
:38:16. > :38:24.# To thee our morning hymns ascended
:38:25. > :38:35.# Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.
:38:36. > :38:41.# We thank thee that thy church unsleeping
:38:42. > :38:52.# While earth rolls onward into light
:38:53. > :38:59.# Through all the world her watch is keeping
:39:00. > :39:40.# And rests not now by day or night
:39:41. > :39:51.# Till all thy creatures own thy sway.
:39:52. > :40:06.Faithful God, compassionate and merciful,
:40:07. > :40:08.Hear us as we remember those valiant hearts
:40:09. > :40:10.Who fell in the heat of the conflict
:40:11. > :40:13.and died here in the mire and clay of the trenches.
:40:14. > :40:15.We honour the examples of selfless service,
:40:16. > :40:17.of comradeship and care, that shine out of
:40:18. > :40:32.We remember the proud and sorrowing lands from which they came,
:40:33. > :40:35.those who returned wounded in mind or body, all at home who mourned
:40:36. > :40:42.the dead and all here who suffered the loss of home and community.
:40:43. > :40:47.Guide the nations, united today in sorrow,
:40:48. > :40:52.into the light of freedom, contentment and glorious hope,
:40:53. > :40:56.and hear the longing of our hearts for peace.
:40:57. > :41:03.We ask this for the sake of your world and the good
:41:04. > :41:08.of all your children, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
:41:09. > :41:20.KIRSTY: And we will now hear from the British Prime Minister,
:41:21. > :41:28.Theresa May, she is going to be reading from Ecclesiastes,
:41:29. > :41:30.and includes the phrase, their name liveth
:41:31. > :41:33.for evermore, carved on the Stone of Remembrance here at Tyne Cot.
:41:34. > :41:35.All these were honoured in their generations,
:41:36. > :41:39.There be of them, that have left a name behind
:41:40. > :41:46.them, that their praises might be reported.
:41:47. > :41:51.And some there be, which have no memorial, who are perished,
:41:52. > :41:54.as though they had never been, and are become as though
:41:55. > :42:00.they had never been born, and their children after them.
:42:01. > :42:02.But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath
:42:03. > :42:09.With their seed shall continually remain a good
:42:10. > :42:16.inheritance, and their children are within the covenant.
:42:17. > :42:22.Their seed standeth fast, and their children for their sakes.
:42:23. > :42:25.Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall
:42:26. > :42:45.Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth for evermore.
:42:46. > :43:09.They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
:43:10. > :43:14.Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
:43:15. > :43:16.At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
:43:17. > :47:29.Private Robert Stokoe, Private Edward Wright
:47:30. > :47:35.and Private Peter Hulland of the East Lancashire Regiment.
:47:36. > :47:40.Killed in action on the 27th of November 1917, aged 21,
:47:41. > :47:55.Private William Dominey, 21st Battalion Canadian Infantry.
:47:56. > :48:09.Killed in action on 3rd or 4th of November 1917, aged 18.
:48:10. > :48:12.My great-grandfather, Private Albert James Goff
:48:13. > :48:17.of the Devonshire Regiment, agricultural labourer
:48:18. > :48:35.He was killed in action on the 26th of October 1917, aged 37.
:48:36. > :48:37.Private Henry Morris, Auckland Regiment,
:48:38. > :48:42.Killed in action on the 4th of October 1917.
:48:43. > :48:47.A tribute to him read, "In a hero's grave he sleepeth."
:48:48. > :48:57."How little we thought when we parted, it was the last farewell."
:48:58. > :49:00.My great-uncle, Sergeant John Kerwin of the Duke of Wellington's
:49:01. > :49:09.Throughout my childhood I was intrigued by his portrait
:49:10. > :50:19.A soldier of the Great War, known unto God.
:50:20. > :52:50.And following on, Theresa May and the Belgian minister of defence.
:52:51. > :52:57.Sir Tim Laurence is the vice-chairman of the Commonwealth
:52:58. > :52:57.War Graves Commission, and he is accompanied by the minister
:52:58. > :53:55.president of Flanders. And these groups of people now
:53:56. > :54:02.taking part are all representing the combatant nations. At Passchendaele,
:54:03. > :54:10.they include Australia, Canada and France and Germany in this first
:54:11. > :54:24.group. There were 220,000 German casualties at Passchendaele.
:54:25. > :55:09.Now, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand and South Africa are represented.
:55:10. > :57:08.In a few moments' time we will be witnessing a fly past
:57:09. > :57:13.We will see four F-16 planes and they will be flying
:57:14. > :57:17.approximately 1500 feet above Tyne Cot Cemetery in Flanders.
:57:18. > :57:20.They will be flying in the missing man formation,
:57:21. > :57:23.a classic aircraft manoeuvre, and it is used to honour
:57:24. > :57:30.Take note as one aircraft breaks away from the rest of the formation,
:57:31. > :58:07.And so we see Prince Philip along with the King of the Belgians,
:58:08. > :58:10.And Queen Mathilde along with the Duchess of Cambridge,
:58:11. > :58:39.That draws events to a close. And so on this centenary, in the words of
:58:40. > :58:44.the poet Siegfried Sassoon, we look down and swear by the slaying of the
:58:45. > :58:46.war, we will never forget. From the entire BBC team in Belgium, thank
:58:47. > :58:57.you and bye-bye.