TO THE SCHOOL AT WAR

We don’t forget- while in this dark December\
We sit in schoolrooms that you know so well
And hear the sounds that you so well remember-
The clock, the hurrying feet, the Chapell bell:
Others are sitting in the seats you sat in;
There’s nothing else seems altered here- and yet
Through all of it, the same old Greek and Latin,

You know we don’t forget.

We don’t forget you- in the wintry weather
You man the trench or tramp the frozen snow;
We play the games we use to play together
In days of peace that seems so long ago:
But through it all, the shouting and the cheering,
Those other hosts in graver conflict met,
Those other sadder sounds your ears are hearing,

Be sure we don’t forget.

And you, our brothers, who for all our praying,
To this dear school of ours come back no mere,
Who lie, our country’s debt of honour paying-
And not in vain- upon Belgian shore;
Till that great day when at the Throne in Heaven
The books are opened and the Judgment set,
Your lives of honour and for England given

The School will not forget.

(Author unknown)

SANCTUARY WOOD CEMETERY ZILLEBEKE

Sanctuary Wood Cemetery, Zillebeke
Copyright © Jacky Platteeuw, 2003

Location: Sanctuary Wood Cemetery lies east of Ieper. From Ieper take the Menin Road (N8) to the roundabout known as “Hellfire Corner”. Follow that same N8 towards Hooge, Bellewaerde Ridge. About 500m down the road you will see on your right handside “Birr-X Roads Cemetery” and a little bit further on your right you will see a plaque indicating the way to “Hill 62”. Take that road and at about 400m, on the right side, you will arrive at “Sanctuary Wood Cemetery”.