BATTLEFIELDS OF FRANCE

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21377, 21 January 1935, Page 23

BATTLEFIELDS OF FRANCE

:—_*—_ An Englishwoman's t Pilgrimage WORK OF THE YPRES LEAGUE When her husband was killed at Cambrai, a few days before the Armistice, Mrs E. L. Jones, of Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England, determined that she would make an early pilgrimage to his grave. Women were not encouraged to go to France in those days, but Mrs Jones overcame all objections, and managed to find the little plot of which she had gone in search. That was some time before the signing of the Peace of Versailles; and that, also, was the beginning of her interest in the graves of British soldiers. Now, never a.year passes without her making one or more visits to the old battlefields of France and Flanders. Sometimes she acts as volunteer conductor to small ties of people who, while not desirous of making a complete tour of the British cemeteries, are anxious to see the graves of fallen relatives. At such times she takes a camera with her, and photographs the graves for her com-, panions. At present Mrs Jones is making a leisurely tour of the Dominion. In conversation with a representative of "The Press," she spoke enthusiastically of the work of the Ypres League, of which she is a member. The organisation now has branches and corresponding members, not only throughout Britain and the British Dominions, but in such foreign cities as Madrid, Buenos Aires, and Cairo; in fact, wherever veterans of the Ypres salient or their relatives are found, the league seeks to bind them together in commemoration and comradeship. It provides travel facilities, and, in special cases, financial assistance for those interested in visiting the salient, and maintains cordial relations with present-day dwellers on the battlefields. Through its quarterly magazine, the "Ypres Times," it provides up-to-date information regarding the sailent, while it was also responsible for the building of the charming English St. George's Church in Ypres. In this church are memorials to the regiments which so gallantly held Ypres throughout the war. The Bible from which the lessons are read was the gift of his Majesty the King, who-is a patron of the league. Early Pilgrimages In the 15 years since her first pilgrimage through France and Flanders, Mrs Jones has watched a miraculous change wrought on the battlefields. Her most vivid impression of her visit in 1920 is not, curiously enough, of shattered fields and gaping shell-holes* but of flowers. "There were millions and millions of flowers; they seemed to cover the battlefields. Red poppies, white daisies, and blue cornflowers —I seldom look on the orderly cemeteries of to-day, with their carefully tended lilies and roses and carnations, without remembering those wild field flowers, springing in our national colours amid the barbed wire and empty shell-cases, and all the other indescribable litter of the battlefields." The greatest pilgrimage in which Mrs Jones has ever taken part was that of 10,000. people,, assembled., by the "Church Army. Special trains, each carrying 500 persons, conveyed the pilgrims to Ypres; and Mrs Jones ! confesses that she can recollect no more moving sight than the return to the salient of the war veterans. Every shade of British society was represented in the pilgrimage, and leaders of the great concourse included Lady Haig and Sir lan Hamilton. Italy and Gallspoli Two years ago Mrs Jones went further afield, making a tour of British war graves in Italy. These graves, she says, are exquisitely kept, and their surroundings are perfect. In many places trees, ilex, and Lombardy poplar and cypresses have been planted round the outside of the cemeteries;/and peasants who wish to pay their little tribute to some cheerful "Tommy" with whom they had brief acquaintance take over the care of a tree dedicated to the memory of their fallen friend. Trees of Remembrance are, Mrs Jones says, a familiar sight in Italy. They are planted either in groves or along avenues, and Italian families care for some particular tree which bears the name of a relative who fell in the war.

In May last year Mrs Jones accompanied the pilgrimage to Gallipoli organised by the Royal Naval Divi* sion and the Twenty-Ninth Division; The pilgrims went ashore on the anniversary of the landing of the TwentyNinth Division from the River Clyde, and were conveyed to Sedd-el-Bahr in motor-lorries which had been sent from Constantinople. Anzac, Suvla, Krithia, Cape Helles—they saw all these hallowed places, and walked reverently past the Daisy Patch. The Gallipoli graves are tended by a colony of Rusian refugees, under charge of two British commissioners. Mrs Jones speaks highly of the courtesy of the Turkish soldiers, who provided the pilgrims with protection against nomads and wandering fanatics. Later the pilgrims went on to Conr stantinople, where the British Legion entertained the formed soldiers of the party at luncheon. At this function memories of Gallipoli were vividly revived by the presence of an old enemy. He was no other than the Turkish gunner-offlcer of whose unlocated gun "Asiatic Annie" every man on Gallipoli was at times unpleasantly aware. "I am delighted to welcome you to this city, sir!" said the gunner to General Sir Francis Davies, one of the leaders of the pilgrimage. "And I must reply that you certainly did your very best to prevent my ever getting here!"" laughingly retorted the general, as he,shook hands.