The Great War lasted four years, yet it killed over twenty million people, and wounded countless more. A year ago I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to the city of Ypres (Often spelt Ieper), and learn a great deal more about those who fell in what was one of the bloodiest conflicts in all time. I took most of these pictures myself, and the full sized versions can be seen by clicking the thumbnails. I dedicate this article to the memory of my Great Grandfather Blundle, while he survived the Great War; he experienced things no human should ever have to endure. May he rest in peace.
Ypres During the War
In an act of bravery befitting heroes, the Dutch army engineers had managed to slow the German advance by destroying some of the levees that kept the area country from being reclaimed by the sea. The result was the German forces had only one way to get into France: Through Ieper. The defenders grimly dug their trenches and prepared their weapons. They would not allow the Germans to pass without a fight.
And fight they did. Over the next four years, the defenders fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the Great war, the infamous battleground of Flanders. Over the course of the war, Ypres changed hands three times.
It was first captured by the Allies in 1914 to prevent the German war machine marching across France. In 1915, the Germans mounted their counter attack with a terrifying new weapon. Although they had used it on the eastern front before, the Germans now turned their latest weapon on Ypres defenders- Chlorine Gas. Unprepared for the new weapon, the Allies where driven out, and forced to entrench themselves around the city again. The third battle of Ypres commenced in 1917, and was the bloodiest yet. Pushing into the city, the Allies paid a cost that was on the wrong side of half a million lives- for only few miles of terrain.
The worst part of all this? By now, Ypres itself had been all but destroyed by each side's attempt to destroy the other with heavy artillery. Soldiers fought and died over a piece of rubble. A strategically important piece of rubble, but rubble nevertheless.
Ypres Today
My journey began with the town of Ypres itself. Currently a thriving area of around thirty thousand people, it would be hard to picture Ypres as anything other than what it is today: a pleasant market town, filled with friendly people, and a hotspot for tourists. The marks of the war remain of course, the Menin gate (discussed later), a war museum, and a number of other landmarks that point to a violent past. Perhaps the most amazing thing though, is the fact that the city was there for me to wonder through at all. In 1919, the city was nothing but a smoking ruin, with practically no buildings standing.
Ypres had also seen the debut of not just one, but two new chemical weapons, Mustard gas had been deployed in the theatre of war surrounding the city in 1917. It's important to note that both sides, not just the Germans, used these chemical weapons. Today, Ypres and Hiroshima are leading centers for campaigns for nuclear and chemical disarmament. For obvious reasons.
The Menin Gate
The Menin Gate is a massive war memorial, dedicated to those allied troops who where never found and given a proper burial. Many where never given a proper grave as they where simply too disfigured to be identified. Many corpses where never recovered at all, atomized by shells or drowned in the mud.
It lists over 50,000 names, and they still did not have enough space to fit all the names on. The remainder are inscribed on a wall at Tyne Cot Cemetery.
The gate itself is situated over the main road in and out of the town. As you can see in the above picture, many people place memorials to dead relatives and friends here, if they know there is no grave to visit. It consists of a main tunnel area (Pictured above), and on each side of the tunnel is a "wing" (Pictured below). Linking the tunnels to the wings are two sets of stairs. Every wall on the inside of the Tunnel, on the stairs, and every wall on the wings contain names.
Each day at 20:00, all traffic through the gate stops and the local fire brigade's buglers sound the last post in memory of all those who gave their lives to keep the nation free. This has occurred every day without fail since 1927, except while the city was occupied by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
Leaving Ypres for the Flanders Battlefield
If you had a relative or friend in the Great War, then they almost certainly spent at least some time in Flanders. Likewise, I visited the war cemeteries, four of them along a single 4km stretch of road. In the first cemetery I visited, I noticed that the gravestones had a most unusual arrangement. Many where placed touching one another, and there where large gaps in the rows. There where also some stones placed down the side of the cemetery at a 90 degree angle to the others.
Upon asking, I found the reason for each of these:
Groups of touching headstones where groups of men who had died together, and their remains could not be separated, or they did not know to whom each "item" belonged. Such situations often occurred when a group of soldiers where standing together when a shell landed on them. They where therefore buried in one large grave, with the headstones all touching.
Men would never be buried where a shell had landed, and so the gaps in the graveyard where areas that where previously shell craters.
Sometimes a shell would land on the graveyard and exhume the bodies of those interred within, often utterly destroying all physical remains. Some remains could not be identified. These troops where given a second empty grave at the side of the cemetery as a marker that they where laid to rest somewhere in the area, but it was not known exactly where.
I noticed one grave had a massive amount of personal tributes on it, and as I read the headstone, I could see why. The grave belonged to the youngest known solider to be killed in action during the Great War.
From the cemetery itself I followed a path around the back towards the front line medical dug outs, where I was shown a place that was most important to the lasting artistic impact of the Great War. In these dug outs, Colonel McCrae wrote his famous poem “In Flanders's Fields”:
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
In the dugout pictured, McCrae wrote that poem. That tight, dank hole in the earth feels more like a tomb than a bunker, let alone a place to take a wounded soldier.
Yet in spite of all the hardship, the brave soldiers kept on fighting and dying in their millions. With a somber feeling in my chest, I moved on to the next leg of my journey, Tyne Cot.
Tyne Cot Cemetery
As I previously mentioned, The Menin gate was not sufficient to house the names of all the missing deceased, and so a wall was created at Tyne Cot with all the remaining names in it, some 20,000 of them.
The Cemetery is also the final resting place to many thousands of Allied troops as well:
Sharp eyed readers may notice a very slight curve in the formation of the gravestones, the reason for this is that virtually all of these soldiers died charging a single German bunker. Each Great War graveyard has a monument in it called the cross of sacrifice, which is built in honor of these men. At Tyne Cot, the cross is built on top of that bunker that so many men died for. A sort of poetic burial, they can now rest easily, having reached their goal.
Among the graves can be found a final, moving gesture. Two headstones, marked with the flag of Germany belonging to German servicemen. Their names have been taken from their dog tags, and they have been laid to rest with all the care and attention that the commonwealth forces paid to their own dead. Their epitaphs read (in German); “Fallen for Germany.”
Tyne Cot is one of the larger of the war cemeteries in the area, with over 11,000 interred from all over the commonwealth.
I looked around the cemetery one last time, and then departed for my next destination, Artillery Wood.
Artillery Wood And The Story Of Hedd Wyn
Due to an unfortunate accident with my computer, at this point most of my pictures have been lost. I will continue to write though, as I hope you will stay with me until the end of my story.
Artillery Wood was a somewhat important location for me to visit as it contains the graves of many of my countrymen. During the Great War, Wales gave the highest percentage of our population to battle (nearly 14%) out of the countries of the United Kingdom. It is also the final resting place of one of our national heroes, the bard Hedd Wyn, author of the poem "Yr Arwr", or the hero in English. The poem itself is too long to be posted in this article, plus it's in Welsh (a language not exactly widespread), but if you want to read it, it can be found here.
Hedd Wyn was the bardic name of Ellis Humphrey Evans. As a farm worker, up until that point he had been exempt from the draft as his work was considered "vital to the war effort on the home front". However, as the war dragged on, the draft became more and more widespread, and either Ellis or one of his brothers would need to join the armed forces.
Ellis joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in June of 1917 to prevent any of his brothers being sent into battle. Within a month he had completed the work that was to win him another chair at the Eisteddfod (a welsh celebration of culture), which he had won or come close to winning several times. After some trouble getting his entry sent off (his officer could not speak welsh and therefore could not verify the safety of the document), the entry was received by the Eisteddfod committee under the pseudonym of Fleur De Les.
September, 1917 and Britain's Welsh Prime minister, David Lloyd George, is preparing to award the chair (the highest prize at the Eisteddfod). The Arch druid Dyfed announces the winner of the competition to be Yr Arwr, by Fleur De Les. The audience begins to applause and look around. Yet no one stands up.
The Arch druid declares the winner again, and still no one stands. Fleur De Les, Hedd Wyn, Ellis Humphrey Evans, has been dead for six weeks. Cut down as he charged the German position at Battery Copse. His last words: “Yes, I am very happy”, as he lay dying in a medical dug out.
31,000 men died with him. Field Marshall sir Douglass Haig had this to say about the battle in his diary: “A fine day's work.”
The chair was draped in a black cloth, and amid the silence of a funeral procession, the other bards slowly gave tribute to Hedd Wyn, one by one. It was than taken by horse and cart 90 miles to his home in Trawsfynydd. In a final twist of fate, the chair was carved by a Flemish worker who had fled Flanders earlier that year.
Myself and the Welsh people in my group each laid a daffodil (the flower of Wales) on his grave and sang Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (land of my fathers, the Welsh national anthem). We took some pictures, including this one (myself pictured), and then move on to our last destination, a German war cemetery.
Langemarck War Cemetery
I have a great deal of sympathy for the German troops of the Great War. I don't blame Germany for the war any more than I blame anyone else. I blame the system of politics that was supposed to prevent a war. To lighten the mood a little, let me show you a youtube video from the British sitcom, Blackadder. It pretty much sums up what happened exactly, as well as various attitudes of the troops (Privates who had no idea what was going on, officers who thought they knew what was going on…):
One dead arch duke later and the powder keg was well and truly lit. The two super alliances where at each other faster than a Mac and PC user.
What we did to the German dead after the war though was all but unforgivable. Commonwealth graves are on land which has been given pretty much indefinitely, but the Germans where only given a few areas and a limited amount of time to keep their dead interred. Eventually the Germans had to exhume their dead, and many of them where placed in a mass crypt at Langemarck. Many where never given a true gravestone, but where instead recorded in the German equivalent of the Menin gate, the Kameraden Grab, which can also be found at Langemarck.
German war cemeteries are very different from Commonwealth ones. The Germans are buried eight to each plot, with a single flat basalt marker for all of them. German cemeteries use dark colours rather than the whites of the commonwealth. As a memorial, four statues stand watch over the cemetery, one representing each element of the armed forces: the air force, the army, the navy and one for the civilians who worked to supply the army. The sculpture was created by Emil Krieger.
In Closing
My time among the dead opened my eyes a great deal to the events of the Great War. It's one thing to learn in a school about how many millions died here, and how many millions died there. Even looking at demographic charts, you can't truly appreciate what happened in Europe between 1914 and 1918. If your country is a member of the commonwealth, then it's more than likely at least one person in your family fought in the Great War. And they almost certainly went through Ypres.
The most terrifying realization about my journey though with this: The Great War was overshadowed by an even bloodier conflict less than thirty years after it had closed. The "war to end all wars" they called it. And still the second world war raged on after it. And after that we had the cold war, the Serbian war, the IRA. Sometimes it scares me that this continent may never actually know peace. And it scares me even more when I think there may be a third world war less than a decade away from us. To those who would commit us to war, I say this:
Walk through Flanders's fields. Walk through Tyne Cot Cemetery. Read the names on the Menin gate. Every one of those people was a human being. They had families. They had lives. They had a job. They may have had children. They had a story, a story cut brutally short by the hands of incompetent leaders and bungling officers, they where People. They where not statistics. 57,000 causalities in one day at the Somme, and I think many of you regard that the same way you regard the £ 35,334,012,000, Britain alone spent on the Great War. People's lives are not resources to be used. They are not money to be spent. They are living, breathing, thinking people!
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.
-- Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)
Thank you for letting me share my experiences with you.
译文:
愿逝者安息
第一次世界大战持续了四年，吞噬了超过两千万的生命，因之受伤的更是不计其数。我很幸运能够在一年前去伊普尔旅游（又为Leper），从而能够更加深入地了解那场史上最为残酷与血腥，并让无数人沦陷的战争。这里的照片大多数是我亲手照下来的（译者：照片已丢失……），点击链接可以观看原大小图片。谨以此文纪念我的祖父Blunder，虽然我祖父是战争的幸存者，但他所经历的不应该是任何人所应忍受的。愿他安息。
战争中的伊普尔
荷兰军队的工程师们以英雄的气概、英勇的行为减缓了德国先遣部队的行进，他们摧毁掉一些防洪堤让海水重新隔离这块国土，从而使得德国军队只能从伊普尔进入法国，而守卫者们在此奋力挖掘战壕，准备武器，他们是不会让德国部队轻易通过伊普尔的。
战斗从此拉开序幕。在接下来的四年之中，守卫者们就是在这块臭名昭著的弗兰德战场上，展开了第一次世界大战中最为血腥的几场战役。在战争的整个过程中，伊普尔的政权曾经三次易手。
1914年伊普尔政权掌握在盟军手中，盟军在此阻止德国军队向法国挺进。1915年，德军利用一种新型威力武器-氯气展开了反击战，虽然他们在东部前线使用过这种武器，但现在德军将这一新型武器搬到了伊普尔的战场上。由于无法抵抗新型武器，盟军被驱逐出伊普尔，屯兵于伊普尔的郊区。1917年伊普尔打响了他的第三场战役，也是最血腥的一场，盟军为了攻下这座只有数英里大小的城市，不惜牺牲50万的兵力。
然而代价仅仅是50万的生命吗？战争结束时，伊普尔早已被双方的军事力量摧毁得满目疮痍，而士兵们就是为了这块碎石岗地浴血奋战，然而一块有着战略意义上碎石岗地也仅仅是碎石岗地。
今日的伊普尔
我的旅程就从伊普尔这个小镇开始。如今，她是一块有着3万居民，生机勃勃的热土，面对着现在的伊普尔，很难想象她曾经的硝烟。现在的伊普尔是一个有着友好百姓的和谐集镇，是一个热点旅游景地。战争的记号清晰可见：Menin门、战争博物馆以及许多其他透露那段暴乱历史的遗迹。旅程中最美妙的事莫过于我能够随意漫步在伊普尔的街道上。然而1919年，整个城市已是一团废墟，笼罩在硝烟之中。
伊普尔不仅仅见证了氯气的初登战场，还见证了另一种化学武器芥子气的登场。1917年整座城市都弥散着芥子气，然而值得注意的是，除了德军外，盟军亦加入了这种化学武器的使用行列。如今，伊普尔和广岛已经成为抵制核武器和化学武器的运动中心。其原因显而易见。
Menin门
Menin门是一个大型战争纪念馆，用来纪念盟军中那些无法找到或没有好好安葬士兵们。许多战士在战斗中被炸得体无完肤而无法辨认，因而无法为他们修建坟墓。更有战士的尸体无法找回-不是被炸弹炸得支离破碎，就是被泥土掩埋。在Menin门上刻了超过5万个姓名，然而它已经没有空间再在上面刻完所有的姓名，剩下的姓名则被刻在了泰恩河摇篮公墓中的一面墙上。
Menin门被修建于城镇交界的主要道路上。正如图中所示，由于许多坟墓已经无从寻找，许多人将悼念亲人和朋友的纪念品安放于此。它由一条主要的拱形通道和两边各伸展开的“翅膀”构成。通道与翅膀之间由两个阶梯连接。在通道的内壁上，阶梯的内壁上以及翅膀的内壁上都刻满了姓名。
每天20点时，所有通过此门的车辆都停止脚步，当地消防队吹响号角纪念那些为解放国家而奉献出生命的战士们。自1927年至今，除了德国纳粹在二战占领该城市时期，这种纪念仪式从未停止过。
从伊普尔向弗兰德战场行进
如果你有亲人或朋友参加过第一次世界大战，那么他们一定在弗兰德战场上留下过足迹。跟随他们的足迹，我走过了蔓延4公里的战争公墓。在第一个公墓中，我发现墓碑以一种极不寻常的方式排列着，许多墓碑相互依靠，而两排墓之间相隔甚远，墓碑之中还有许多横躺在坟墓之上。
询问之后，疑惑一一揭晓：
墓碑堆在一块的坟墓表明战士们在战斗时在一起牺牲，而他们的尸体由于无法分离，或者已无法辨认，所以只能将他们一起埋葬在一个大墓穴中，他们的墓碑因此也相互靠在一起，这种情况通常发生在炸弹袭击的过程中；
此外炸弹爆炸地点不能做为安葬地点，因此两排墓之间隔着那些炸弹的轰炸坑；
还有时候炸弹可能炸在坟墓上并把尸体从墓坑中炸出，将一切都毁灭，许多遗体无法被辨认，因此人们在原坟墓旁为那些战士们修建了另一个空墓穴，暗示他们被安葬在附近，但确切位置无从而知。
在漫步时我发现在一个坟墓前堆满了悼念品，其碑文写到：这座坟墓属于一战中已知年龄最小的战士。
在公墓中，我看到了一条从后援绕到前线的医疗挖掘通道，现在它已经成为一战留下的最具影响力的战争艺术。在这些通道中，军医麦基写下了他最著名的诗歌：芳泽坟场吊英魂。
军医中校约翰.麦基(1872-1918),加拿大籍军人。
芳泽坟场吊英魂
芳泽坟场中 碧血化红罂
并列十字架 罂花正开盛
英魂长眠处 云雀上空鸣
枪炮震天响 隔世不闻声
吾躯虽隔世 亦曾享人情
朝迎晨光美 晚享夕照明
亲人共欢聚 爱意溢温馨
而今埋黄土 芳泽唯凄清
与敌不两立 只为卫家国
薪火传于汝 期汝能报复
壮志如未酬 死者不瞑目
罂花虽开盛 长眠难安乐
对此黄土地 芳泽添凄寂
就是在这条通道内，麦基写下了这首诗歌。在地下的这个狭小、潮湿的洞穴看上去更像一个墓穴，然而在战场上它是一个用于治疗受伤士兵的掩护坑。
尽管条件如此恶劣，勇敢的士兵们还是顽强的奋斗着，前赴后继地奉献着他们的生命。带着压抑的心情，我继续着我的旅程-泰恩河摇篮公墓。
泰恩河摇篮公墓
如我前面提到的，Menin门无法刻上所有失踪士兵的姓名，因此在泰恩河摇篮公墓人们修建了另一座墙壁，并刻上了所有剩余两万多名士兵的姓名。
这座公墓也是数以千计盟军士兵安息的场所：
眼尖的读者也许发现墓碑的构成略有弯曲，这里所有的士兵都是为了一个德国碉堡而牺牲的。每个战争的墓地都有一个被称为两岸牺牲的纪念碑，用于纪念战争中逝去的生命。在泰恩河摇篮，这座纪念碑被修建在碉堡的最高处用以纪念那些为之付出生命的战士们。这类似于诗葬：如今他们已经实现了他们的目标，终于可以安心长眠了。
在公墓中还有一个战争结束的标志：两块墓基石印刻了标志德国军队的德国国旗，墓碑的姓名也被从国旗上抹去，而那些灵魂也只能在联盟部队的照料下安息。碑文写道（德语）：德国的倒下。
泰恩河摇篮是这片区域最大的战争公墓，其中有来自盟国的11000名士兵在此安息。
最后环视了这座公墓后，我朝我的下一站前进-Artillery Wood（地名）公墓
Artillery Wood公墓和海德维恩的故事
因为我的电脑不幸出了故障，我旅行的照片大部分都丢失了。但我会继续我的故事，希望你能继续听完我的故事。
Artillery Wood公墓对于我来说是一个意义重要的地点，因为在这里埋葬了我的同胞。在第一次世界大战期间，威尔士为战场上输送了大不列颠联合王国中比例最高的战士（约14%）。这儿也长眠着我国的一名民族英雄：吟游诗人海德维恩，《Yr Arwr》诗集的作者。诗集本身十分长，因而无法贴在此文档中，此外诗集是用威尔士语写（一种流传不广的语言）的，但如果你想阅读，请点击此处。
海德维恩是埃利斯.汉弗莱.埃文斯的诗人化名。作为一名农场工人，直到他的作品被认为是在后方前线作出的巨大努力，并对战争起至关重要的作用时，他才被免征入伍。然而，随着战争的推进，草案中征兵的范围越来越大，以至于埃利斯和他的兄弟们必须有一人得参军。
1917年6月为了不让他的兄弟们参加战斗，埃利斯加入了威尔士皇家燧发枪手队。在一个月内他完成了为他又一次赢得诗人座椅称号（一种威尔士文化庆祝活动）的作品，而他已经数次获得或提名该荣誉了。由于他的上级军官不会说威尔士语，因此无法确认该作品的安全性，这给他作品参赛带来不少麻烦，但最终埃利斯还是以笔名Fleur De Les的身份将该作品送到大会委员会手中。
1917年9月英联邦威尔士首相David.Lioyd.George准备将荣誉座椅授予获得这一诗人最高奖项的诗人。大主教Dyfed宣布此次竞赛获胜作品为Fleur De Les的Yr Arwr，观众开始喝彩并环视四周，但没有人站起来。
大主教再次宣读了获胜者姓名，但仍没有人起立。Fleur De Les，海德维恩，埃利斯汉弗莱埃文斯已经在6个星期前牺牲了。在巴特利柯普斯向德军阵地冲锋的时候他被砍倒在地，躺在医疗掩护坑内，他最后的话语是：是的，我很快乐。
3万1千多人与他一同牺牲。陆军元帅道格拉斯海格在日记中对此次战役如此写道：完美的战斗！
海德维恩的座椅披上了黑色的衣袍，整个丧礼在沉寂中进行，所有的诗人们一个接一个缓慢地向海德维恩献上鲜花寄托哀思。而诗人的那份荣誉被人们用马车拉行90英里送到他的故里Trawsfynydd。似乎一切都是命运的安排，那张代表荣誉的椅子是由那年不久前从弗兰德逃跑的弗兰德工匠雕刻而成的。
我和随行的威尔士人每人在他的墓前献上了一束水仙花（威尔士国花），并清唱了Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau（我父亲的土地，威尔士国歌）。我们在此照了许多照片，随后我们前往到我们旅程的最后一站-德国战争坟场。
Langemarck战争墓地
对一战中的德国军队我也充满同情。我对他们和对盟军军队的态度是一样的，没有任何责备，因为他们都只是各国政府打着阻止战争幌子的政治工具。下面给你们放一段截自英国情景喜剧的youtube视频片断：Blackadder。视频中总结了各种对一战军队的观点（政府官员们认为他们掌握全局，但事实上没有人真正知道这场战争的意义）：
储斐迪南大公夫妇的遇刺宣布战争开始后，两大帝国以超过MAC和PC使用者之间连接的速度结盟。
对战争中的德军，我们无法原谅，包括那些同样为战争牺牲的战士。盟军的墓地覆盖了相当大的土地，但德军牺牲的战士只被給予了微少的时间在牛毛之地上安置入土。最终德军只能挖掘出死亡的战士，把他们安葬在Langemarck的一个大墓坑里，他们中的许多人都没有墓碑，同Menin门一样，他们的名字被刻在了Langemarck的Kameraden Grab上。
德军士兵的公墓与盟军的相差万里：每八个德军士兵被埋葬在同一块小土地上，而在坟墓上只有一块简单的玄武石墓碑刻着他们的名字，并且采用不同于盟军白色公墓的深色，为了表示纪念，在公墓上竖立着四座雕像，每一座都代表了军队的一股力量：空军、陆军、海军和由平民组成的供给军，雕塑由埃米尔克里基雕刻而成。
结语
在与这些逝者同行的日子里，对一战有了更为剧烈的感触。书本中描述的百万士兵的牺牲与这里长眠的士兵给人永远是截然不同的触动。仅仅通过人口图，你永远无法了解在1914年到1918年欧洲都发生了什么事情，如果你的国家是同盟国，那么你的家庭中至少有一人在一战中奋战过，而他们几乎都到过伊普尔。
在我的旅程中最让我触动的是：在一战后的30年内，一战一直处在史上最血腥斗争的阴影中，而政客们称这是结束所有战争的战争。然而在第二次世界大战、冷战、塞尔维亚战争、爱尔兰共和国战争中，他们仍然延续这一口号。许多时候我怀疑在这片大陆上是否存在和平，甚至怀疑在未来十年中是否会爆发第三次世界大战，对此我深受困扰，而对那些给我们带来战争的人，我只想说：
去走一走弗兰德战场，去看一看泰恩河摇篮公墓，去读一读Menin门上面的名单！那上面刻写的每一个姓名都是一个生命，他们有家庭、生活、工作、孩子、故事……而这所有的一切都被你们这些所谓尽责的领导者和优秀的政客所毁灭，而他们也仅仅是你们的子民。他们不是统计出来的数据，他们是在Somme一天牺牲的5万7千名战士，他们是英国为一战付出的35.334.012.000名亡灵。人民的生命永远都不应该是被使用的数据资料，他们不是任何金钱可以衡量的，他们是有生命，有活力，有思想的人！
他们将不再老去，我们却随风而逝；
岁月不再困扰他们，时间亦在此停滞；
在落日的余晖之中，在清晨的日出时分；
我们将永托哀思。
--劳伦斯宾扬（1896-1943）
感谢您与我分享我的经历。
译者资料补充：
1、Ypres：伊普尔，比利时西北部城镇；第一次世界大战时期的激战战场
2、Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD：介绍军医约翰.麦基中校得从加拿大的国殇日开始。
加拿大政府将每年的11月11日定为“国殇日”（Remembrance Day），旨在纪念在两次世界大战和韩战中捐躯的加拿大军人。第一个国殇日于1919 年在整个英联邦举行，原称“停战日”（Armistice Day），以纪念第一次世界大战于1918年11月11日上午11时结束。
加拿大自1923至1930年，停战日在包括11月11日那个星期的星期一举行，也在同一天庆祝感恩节。直至1931年，加拿大才将“停战日”改为“国殇日”，并固定在每年的11月11日举行，而当年的感恩节则提前在10月12日庆祝。每年的国殇日，国民都会向为国捐躯的加拿大阵亡将士致敬，佩戴罂粟花（poppy）参加纪念仪式和参观纪念馆，并在上午11时默哀两分钟。
罂粟花缘何会成为国殇日的标志呢？原来早于拿破仑（1769-1821）的年代，罂粟花在战死沙场士兵的坟墓间盛放，已经引起人们的注意。第一次世界大战时，在法国和比利时的战地上，这些小红花在坟墓间又再盛开。1915年，加拿大的一名军医约翰∙麦基中校在战地救护所救治伤员，并负责掩埋阵亡将士的遗体，亲眼目睹了战场的惨状及红透半边天的罂粟花。五月的一天，他在掩埋了好友之后，抑制不住悲伤和激动，在一张碎纸片上写下了十几行诗句，《In Flanders Fields》一诗于是诞生了。这首诗很快便以民歌形式在欧洲前线和北美后方广为流传。
1921年，加拿大退伍军人协会正式采用罂粟花作为纪念将士的标志。1931年，加拿大国会正式通过每年的11月11日为Remembrance Day的决议。随之，美国、英国及英联邦的其他国家也都选定罂粟花作为纪念阵亡将士的鲜花。而为纪念约翰∙麦基中校，加拿大铸币厂将他的著名诗篇《In Flanders Fields》印在加拿大目前流通的十元纸币上。
罂粟花运动（Poppy Campaign）于每年十月最后一个星期五开始，直至11月11日国殇日，在运动开始的第一天就将复制的罂粟花派给普通大众，佩戴在衣服的左襟或接近心脏的位置。虽然传统上只在国殇期间佩戴罂粟花，但任何人都可于任何时候佩戴它。
网络获取的诗歌翻译资源：
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
芳泽坟场吊英魂
In Flanders Fields
约翰∙麦基 作
郑或 译
芳泽坟场中 碧血化红罂
并列十字架 罂花正开盛
英魂长眠处 云雀上空鸣
枪炮震天响 隔世不闻声
吾躯虽隔世 亦曾享人情
朝迎晨光美 晚享夕照明
亲人共欢聚 爱意溢温馨
而今埋黄土 芳泽唯凄清
与敌不两立 只为卫家国
薪火传于汝 期汝能报复
壮志如未酬 死者不瞑目
罂花虽开盛 长眠难安乐
对此黄土地 芳泽添凄寂
文字来源：中侨互助会
参考网址：http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolanguage/sets/72157594371100374/
3、Laurence Binyon：劳伦斯.宾扬，1869-1943；1869年8月10日出生于英格兰兰开斯特，毕业于牛津大学，1890年左右宾扬开始写诗，在就读牛津大学时他赢得了诗歌的大奖。
第一次世界大战开战之前，宾扬在不列颠博物馆工作；1914年9月21日，宾扬的诗歌作品“The Fallen”被刊载在泰晤士报上，这首诗主要是描述第一次世界大战爆发时的诗，后来这首诗被刻在战争纪念碑上，遍布在英国各处，这首诗是宾扬最著名的作品；在第一次世界大战后，宾扬对东方的艺术颇有研究，拥有对东方艺术的专业知识，于是返回不列颠博物馆之后在出版部担任主管，在此期间他写了书本关于艺术方面的著作，包括：“Painting in the Far East”(1908)、“Japanese Art”（1909）、“Botticelli”（1913）以及“Drawings and Engraving of William Blake”（1922）等艺术相关书籍；1929年宾扬到日本教书；1933年被哈佛大学委派为诗歌教授。
宾扬除了在美术上有才华外，他的诗也是令人称著的，他的诗风受到英国诗人威廉.华兹华斯（William Wordsworth，1770-1850）的作品所影响，宾扬出版过诗集，还写了九部歌剧作品，其中有六部曾经登台演出，其中“Arthur”（1923）描写了亚瑟王的传奇故事，就被改编成舞台剧，搭配音乐演出；晚年翻译但丁的《神曲》（Divine Comedy），出版后颇受好评。1943年3月10日宾扬逝世，享年74岁。
参考网址：http://ap6.pccu.edu.tw/DailySentence/author_life.asp?authId=233
找不到原诗歌翻译，把原诗贴出来：
For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
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.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables at home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)
4、一战介绍（百度百科）：http://baike.baidu.com/view/26747.htm