54,895 Names

A young lad ascends the stairs of a Menin Gate hall well behind his parents, they with wreath in hand. Junior looks back downstairs at those assembled. He wonders…this is not my ordinary day. Next to the naval officer an army Cadet. Both at attention but the younger’s eyes cast upward to the panels. Names, names, names 54,895* names.

The ceremony is about to begin as silence brings calm to the assembly. Not a word is said. The buglers find their place. Our speaker begins in recognition of the event. He is brief. With the bugler’s arrival the gate fills with hand held mobiles reaching upwards towards the Ieper Fire Brigade.

Birdsong…the wind blows. The Last Post begins. Using his mobile one visitor pans the walls, buglers and crowd as the notes rise and fall. This series of moments is being kept and I wonder has he been before this day?

Late arrivals lift their children to their shoulders.

THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD, AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD;
AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN.
AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

And again there is silence within the gate. Wreaths move forward. For some this will be a time well remembered. From one generation to another.

We all stand. Hands in pockets, folded or by our side. The cool wind provides no warmth. Perhaps a little hardship not so bad. And they look up…their eyes filled with expression, emotion. There is family here…there are reasons to be here. The bugles lift again…the notes rise and fall…until tomorrow when remembered again, here at this gate and across the fields of Flanders.

From notes written at the Menin Gate ceremony.
3 April 2026

*54,895 is the number of fatalities found when searching the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

…of those who come to visit…