BRITISH DEAD IN FRANCE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19730, 21 September 1929, Page 18

BRITISH DEAD IN FRANCE.

MEMORIAL WINDOWS. NOTRE DAME DB LORBTTE. (raOX OUB OWS COIUSPOITBBIIT.) LONDON, August 9. On behalf of all the Governments and peoples of the Empire, the Imperial War Graves Commission have given some windows for the Memorial Chapel in Notre Dame de Lorette French Cemetery, close to Vimy Ridge, '.. he windows were presented on Sunday. They commemorate the dead from all parts of the British Empire who fought over the same ground as their French comrades and fell on French soil. The windows are intended as a tribute of gratitude to the French people for the assistance they have given to the Imperial War Graves Commission in their work of caring for the British graves in France and the generous "grants of land for Biitish cemeteries and memorials. They consist of six lights, and are to be placed at the ends of the transepts, three in each. In one set the central figure is that of St. George with allegorical figures on either side, representing Victory. Below is seen part of the field of battle with wcoden crosses marking the graves of the dead. In the other set St. Joan forms the central figure with, on either side. Memory and Praise. The Arms of St. Joan are at the base of the window in which her figure appears, and the Royal Arms and those of the Dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, and India are grouped under the figures in the other windows. Under the windows of which St. George is the central figure is the inscription: "1 believe in the Communion of Saints"; and under the windows of which St. Joan is the central figure, "Credo in sanctorum communionem." Those present at the ceremony included Mr Thomas Shaw (chairman of the Imperial War Graves Commission and Secretary of State for War), General Lord Home, Lieutenant-General Sir Hastings Anderson, Sir Frederic Kenyon, Mr Harry Gosling, MajorGeneral Sir Fabian Ware (vice-chair-man of the War Graves Commission), Lieutenant-Colonel G. P. Vanier (representing Canada). Major-General J. H. Bruche (representing Australia). Lieutenant-Colonel J Studholme, D.S.O. (representing New Zealand), Captain F. B. Thcon (representing South Africa), Mr W. Hutchings (representing Newfoundland), Colonel J. G. Needham (British Military Attache in Paris), and Mr H. A. Payne, R.W.S. (designer of the windows). The chapel stands in a war cemetery, containing the graves of 30,000 of those who fell in the attacks, and is a central feature of the only large French memorial in the British area of the old front. It is visited yearly by thousands of people, and it was there that the King, in 1922, in the course of his pilgrimage to the British war cemeteries, was met by Marshal Foch. Homage to the Dead. The party was received at the chapel by Mgr. Julien, Bishop of Arras. Addressing the Bishop, Mr Shaw said he brought, in the name of the Imperial War Graves Commission, the most respectful homage to the memory of the dead, and the most profound sympathy for the mothers and fathers of France who had lost their sons. Mr Shaw continued: — There is no need for us—French or British —to claim endurance, courage, and grandeur of soul. The graves of France and Flanders—nay, the graves of the world—show that our cup of these qualities is not merely full; it overflows. The great qualities of bravery, love of liberty, and love of native country have been shown by -our sons who lie here. Can we show the same great qualities of endurance, love of country, and love of humanity in working for the peace of the world? So long as history is written, the bravery of our sons will form a golden page. May we be great enough ft> pay our tribute to their memory by trying to assure a peace which will make the tremendous sacrifices of the Great War unnecessary in the future. In the beautiful words inscribed on your tower, may we be able to say, "Peuples, soyez unis, soyez humains!" Lord Home, before laying a wreath in memory of the French dead, said that when in 1916 the British First Army, which he had the honour to command, took over that part of the front from the French Tenth Army, it had already been the scene of some of the bitterest fighting of the war. Among those hills their French brothers-in-arms had displayed their traditional dash and bravery, and had held some chosen positions with a determination and utter forgetfulness of self that such names as Lorette, Carency, and Souehez had become household words in England, as in France. The ground on which they stood was thus sanctified by their sacrifice. When the successful attack of April, 1917, by the British First Army and the gallant Canadian troops flung back the enemy from the heights of Vimy, one of the first tasks of that army was to collect and reverently to inter the remains of thousands of heroic Frenchmen, who for long months, undisturbed by the unceasing din of battle, had slept where they had fallen. There, in the ground chosen later by their own comrades, they would rest so long as France should be a nation. Headquarters at Arras. Prior to this window-presentation ceremony, the new offices of the Imperial War Graves Commission were opened at Arras. This centre, in the Place de la Gare, will be the headquarters of the Commission for France and Belgium. A tablet has been placed in the main hall bearing the arms of Great Britain and of all the Dominions, similar in design to those which appear on the tablets erected by the Commission in the principal cathedrals in France and Belgium.