Evergreen

2017 EVERGREEN 35
The Menin Gate.
In the evening, visitors and townsfolk
gather here to lay wreaths, and on
the occasion of our visit a Belgian
choir sang old songs and ballads of
brave men saying farewell to home.
Leybourne and Malling laid
another array of poppies (our
party’s leader and organiser,
Stephen Thomas, playing a part
here).
A group of Sikhs were also
present to make their noble
tribute, and we suddenly
remembered the old pictures
of the Indian Empire soldiers
who found themselves on the
Western Front — somehow
out of place in this European
quarrel, but essential to us
because they were and are great
warriors. At the conclusion of
the official ceremony, the Sikhs
shouted a bloodcurdling war
cry; a primal, terrifying sound
which echoed in the Menin
Gate, and which seemed
to honour all the men
who gave their lives.
Soon, it was time to
leave; to catch the last
ferry, and to watch the
European continent slip
away into the darkness
— the Channel lights
of England welcoming
us in the distance. We
thought of the chaps who
had gone before us; who
went to France, not in
a luxury coach, but in troop trains,
carrying heavy packs upon their
backs, and rifles which sometimes
did not work. We seemed quiet on
the journey home...
STUART MILLSON