The Woodside boys will be remembered: Brothers in Arms (1)

 

The Eglinton brothers: Brothers in Arms (1)

 

In the previous blog the story of the Zonnebeke five was shared along with the extraordinary efforts by local Belgian inn proprietor, Johan Vandewalle, in building the ‘Brothers in Arms’ memorial in honour of John Hunter and his brother Jim. Following the discovery and recovery of the remains of the five WW1 Australian soldiers in 2006, Johan worked tirelessly to build this magnificent memorial to mark the loss of a brother and his burial by his sibling during the war only to be found over 90 years later. The life-size bronze casting of John and Jim Hunter arrived in Belgium from Australia last month.

 The transportation of this magnificent piece was celebrated in Ypres with re-enactors honouring the memorial piece as the motorcade passed through the Menin Gate en-route to Polygon Wood to  its final destination on the site adjacent to Johan’s inn, the De Dreve Inn aka ‘Anzac’s Rest’. 

On September 25^th the Brothers in Arms memorial will be officially dedicated and will no doubt become a highly desired location for many stories of lost brothers to be shared. It is to be hoped that one week later the 2022 Connecting Spirits Community Tour group will visit this significant site as part of our commemorative programme. One set of brothers from Woodside will be remembered there and, in the lead up to Anzac Day I will be sharing their stories.

The Eglinton brothers are remembered on the Woodside Honour Roll and the three who died in WW1, will each have their stories recounted in the weeks up to April 25th. Four separate blog posts will be published:

1.      Clarence Roy EGLINTON

2.      Thomas William EGLINTON

3.      Laurence EGLINTON

4.      A final post from the relative of the Eglinton brothers, Michael Lucas, will give an overview from the family’s perspective.

(The individual blogs on the three Eglinton bothers, are based on the public service records at the National Archives of Australia. www.naa.gov.au )

 

CLARENCE ROY EGLINTON (3104)

Clarence Roy, born at Terowie, was the first of the Eglinton brothers to enlist, joining up on 6 August 1915 in the midst of the Gallipoli campaign. He was 5 feet and 7 inches in height, with hazel eyes and dark hair. His nominated religion was Church of England.

 Just under 24 years of age, Clarence was part of the 7th reinforcements of the famous South Australian 27^th Battalion. His mother Mrs Elizabeth Eglinton of Forest Range was listed as his next of kin.

At the conclusion of several months training in Adelaide, Clarence left for the war on the HMAT ‘Medic’ on 12 January 1916 heading for the training camps in Egypt. On 21 March 1916 Clarence left for the western front aboard the HT ‘Oriana’ departing from the port of Alexandria. Just one week later on the 27^th of March he disembarked at the French port of Marseilles along with the many thousands of other Australian and Commonwealth troops headed for the war on the western front. Nothing the AIF had experienced in the 9 months in Turkey could ever prepare them for what they faced in the mud and trenches of the Somme and the Ypres Salient.

His service record lists him moving towards the front lines in France on July 6 and it is highly likely that in the following months, he was engaged with the 27^th at Pozieres on the Somme. The AIF during the Battle of the Somme at Pozieres suffered horrendous casualties in the 7 weeks they were fighting incurring 23,000 casualties including over 8,000 deaths in that short space of time.

 Clarence’s service record doesn’t specify his exact location during this time and is referred to again on the 7^th of November when he was promoted to Lance Corporal.

In the start of the new year Clarence Eglinton suffered a number of serious illnesses requiring ongoing hospitalisation for extended periods and was evacuated to a number of English hospitals during the first part of 1917. He was transferred from the large hospital centre at Rouen and moved to Southwark, Dartford, Weymouth, Bulford, Hurdcott and finally Perham Downs in the UK before finally returning to the front lines once more after 6 months of ongoing medical issues. Clarence was sent back to the Western Front landing in Havre on 6^th of July 1917. At the end of July, he re-joined his unit once more only to be killed in action two months later on the 20^th of September during the 3^rd Battle of Ypres. He was never found and is remembered on the Menin Gate in Ypres, the memorial to the missing 55,000 British and Commonwealth troops who died in the Ypres Salient but were ’ Known Only Unto God’.

When the 2022 Connecting Spirits Community Tour group attend the Last Post ceremony in Ypres this year, we will ensure the Clarence Roy Eglinton will be commemorated at that famous memorial so that his family will know that he has not been forgotten. 

Rest in peace Clarence.

Clarence Roy Eglinton (3104) is listed on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Belgium

(Photo credit: Julie Reece) 

 

March 21, 2021 the bronze statue cast in a foundry in Australia finally made its way to Ypres in Belgium to complete the 'Brothers in Arms' memorial the project close to the heart of the person responsible : Johan Vandewalle. 

(Photo credit : Gunther Verhaverbeke) 

The 'bronze brothers' make their way through the streets of Ypres and onto their final resting place next to Polygon Wood. Johan's mission is finally complete and here at this magnificent memorial the Eglinton brothers will be remembered together. 

(Photo credits: Gregory Verfaillie) 

 Many thanks to our friends in Belgium Gunther and Gregory who selflessly allow their beautiful photos to be shared. 

Connecting Spirits Community Tour 2017: looking back...(number 1)

The Menin Gate and the last Post Association.

For all who travel to Ieper (Ypres...or 'Wipers' as pronounced by the British soldiers) in search of ancestors who lost their lives in the Great War, there is no site more significant than the Menin Gate. It is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war.

The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields waking past the famous Menin Gate lions. The lions were given to the newly built Australian War Memorial in 1936 and this year returned on loan to Ypres as part of the centenary commemorations for the Battle of Passchendaele. 

(Go to the Youtube   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsgHI1pS9o0 report ) 

The Menin Gate commemorates casualties from the forces of Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and United Kingdom who died in the Salient. In the case of United Kingdom casualties, only those prior 16 August 1917 (with some exceptions). United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. New Zealand casualties that died prior to 16 August 1917 are commemorated on memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery.

Building of the memorial began in 1923 and on 24 July 1927, and was unveiled by Field Marshal Lord Plumer. Soon after its completion the memorial became a place of pilgrimage for veterans, relatives and visitors to the battlefields.

Every evening since 1928, at 8 p.m. buglers sound the Last Post. The ceremony has become part of the daily life of Ieper and traffic is stopped from passing through the memorial. Only during the German occupation of the Second World War was the ceremony interrupted. At that time, it was held at Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey, England.

The idea of performing the Last Post was first conceived by the Belgian Pierre Vandenbraambussche, Superintendent of the Ieper Police. The Last Post Committee (now Association) was formed in 1928 of local volunteers and has remained ever since. By contacting the Last Post Association at www.lastpost.be  individuals and groups can submit an application to take part in the nightly ceremony by either reading the Exhortation, Laying a Wreath, or reading the Kohima Epitah to conclude the ceremony. 

Since 2001 when I ran my first school commemorative project at Mount Barker High School  (Remembrance 2001) through to the inaugural Connecting Spirits Community Tour of this year, many of our group members have taken part in the Last Post ceremony. Several of our Connecting Spirits students have also sung the Australian national anthem under these hallowed walls. This year I was asked by Benoit Mottrie to read the Exhortation, a privilege I will always treasure. If you are looking for a very special place to stay while in Ieper (Ypres) I can recommend the Menin Gate House owned by Benoit. Three separate apartments command prime views of the memorial and inside the main apartment, you will be immersed in the history of the Great War and its most famous memorial. 

And finally as our group traversed the former battlefields, the poetry of the day from various poets was shared. The following poem by soldier and poet Siegfried Sassoon, 'On passing the Menin Gate', is a powerful and erudite account of this extraordinary W.W.1 memorial. 

Lest We Forget....

On Passing the New Menin Gate, by Siegfried Sassoon
Who will remember, passing through this Gate, The unheroic Dead who fed the guns? Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate, - Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones? Crudely renewed, the Salient holds its own. Paid are its dim defenders by this pomp; Paid, with a pile of peace-complacent stone, The armies who endured that sullen swamp. Here was the world's worst wound. And here with pride 'Their name liveth for evermore' the Gateway claims. Was ever an immolation so belied As these intolerably nameless names? Well might the Dead who struggled in the slime Rise and deride this sepulchre of crime.

Contact Benoit at info@meningatehouse.com-www.meningatehouse.com

SOURCES: CWGC website & Last Post Association website

PHOTOS: Taken by Julie Reece