Lest We Forget - Volume 15 www.legionnl.ca 135 In Flanders Fields Marathon – September 13th, 2015 By: Weldon Chafe Originally I was going to Beaumont – Hamel in 2016 for the 100th anniversary, but my sister discovered the In Flanders Fields Marathon. She insisted we run this event in memory of out great-uncle, William Patrick Dohaney, Royal Newfoundland Regiment, #496. Uncle Will, age 24, was killed on July 1, 1916. The In Flanders Fields Marathon is a run for Remembrance. It honours the fallen and others who were deployed to the front lines during WWI. We met runners from Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, all commemorating a fallen family member. Uniquely, random race bib numbers included athletes’ names who were killed in the The Battle of the Somme. Over 200 Olympic athletes were killed in this region during the war. James Duffy, a Canadian marathoner who represented Canada in the 1912 Olympics, won the Boston Marathon in 1915, was killed in action in 1916, eight days before his 25th birthday. Proudly, my sister was chosen to wear a bib with his name to honour his sacrifice. The Marathon started in Nieuwpoort, a fishing village on the coast of Belgium where in 1916, the people of Nieuwpoort opened the flood gates to halt the German troop advancements. After running over these sluice gates we followed the River Yser all the way to Ypres, where the race finished in front of the Flanders Field Museum. Along the well organized 42.2 kilometre route we passed a welcoming bagpiper at the 5km mark, fields of poppies, beautiful farmlands and enjoyed the support of the local people. We passed the “Trench of Death” in Dixmude. The preserved trenches face the Front Line that the Belgians held for four years during the war. It is a serene and quiet part of nature today. The race then passed through the town of Steenstraete, with its memorial to the 6000 Belgian soldiers, the unfortunate victims of the first poison gas attack in 1915. Along the Course there are many international cemeteries. The marathon enters Ypres through the Menin Gate, which faces the front lines of the war. Inscribed on its wall are over 54 000 names of soldiers whose remains were never recovered, many who marched through the gates and never returned. Local farmers still discover bones of the missing as well as unexploded ordinance. Ypres was completely leveled by the war’s end and Winston Churchill recommended not rebuilding as a testament to the horror of war. The indomitable spirit of the Belgians prevailed and the rebuilt city serves as a memorial to all who helped preserve freedom. At the Menin Gate, every evening since 1928, there is a Last Post Ceremony to honour the war dead. After the marathon, we toured the battlefields, grave yards, the Newfoundland Memorial Park, and the Caribou Trail. We visited “Uncle Will’s” final resting place. Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders Fields Rest In Peace Uncle Will
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