King of The Jungle
Well-known member
You should definitely go to the Arras Memorial if you're nearby again OAG. I always stop there for a while if passing as one of my great uncles, Fred, is on the memorial wall. The cemetery obviously has many wargraves (including a couple of German ones that I'm not entirely sure Fred would've approved of!), but the wall at the top of the cemetery is engraved with around 45,000 names of British and Commonwealth soldiers and airmen who died in the battles around Arras and have no known grave. Standing in front of that wall, with those thousands of names, and knowing they are just the poor sods that have no known grave out of the many more that were killed, is humbling.... there is a terrible enormity about it that is hard to describe. The Arras Memorial is very much like the Menin Gate or the Thiepval Memorial in that respect.Been to a few War Cemeteries in Belgium & France. Wasn’t far from Arras last week, just not sure about going to visit. It must be interesting to see the trenches etc but also don’t want to be a voyeur.
Have a good trip, hope most of the money your Mrs spent goes to a good cause and not a travel agent
It's not voyeuristic at all. Have a wander reading the headstones, leave a poppy or wreath or message at the wall, give your thoughts to all those blokes for a short period of time while you are there, and I guarantee you will feel that you did something very worthwhile afterwards. Sort of puts many things in our modern lives into perspective I find, especially when you consider that it really wasn't that long ago, only 2 generations for me.
I also have to say, that while I am generally no fan of the French, they really do look after our war cemeteries fantastically. They are tended to with great care and kept immaculate. That is the least anyone might do, some may think, but it has always impressed me how well the cemeteries are looked after in France.