The alarm sounded at 02:50 and we roused ourselves quickly to get to the Australian Memorial at Villers Bretonneux by the time the site opened at 03:30 for the Dawn Service.
As we walked down the corridor of the hotel, others were also making their way and as we headed off in the car there were other groups of people waiting for taxis, buses etc along the way. It was pitch black driving along the road but we could quickly see in the distance over the flat countryside the lit up memorial site.
We followed the traffic plan we had obtained from the Department of Veterans Affairs – as there were specific routes to take depending on whether you were arriving by car or bus. Having reached our turning point to head to the car parking next to the site, we were stopped short by the French Gendarmarie blocking the road. A few others that had arrived before us were parking in a nearby street and confirmed the Gendarmes would not let them through – even though the official traffic plan showed parking was supposed to be alongside the memorial site. So at just before 03:30 we parked the car and started walking the rest of the way. We suddenly thought we may not be going anywhere as Adrienne tripped on the gutter in the dark and twisted her ankle. But after a few choice words I can’t print she indicated she was okay and off we went.
Wide awake and totally alert before the service
We got about 200 yards when cars started to pass us on the road that had been closed to us. I waved down one of the cars and the driver confirmed they were now being let though. We returned to the car and drove closer to the site to park – thankfully saving us a bit of a walk. The site rises up a slope from the road and we had a walk of 400-500 yards up to the main part of the memorial where the service was being held. There was a section at the front roped off for VIP’s but we got a good spot on the main aisle about 8 rows back from there. We settled in to wait till the 05:30 start and watched all the others arrive.
Dawn approaching
Like the day before, all the voices were Australian – with a very rare french accent now and then. As we sat it was pretty cool – about 5 degrees by my reckoning but also with a bit of a breeze adding some chill. About 05:15 the MC went through what would be happening for the service and the need for the protocol to be followed as the service was being televised.
The service went for an hour or so with speeches from the Australian ambassador, our foreign minister K Rudd and a couple of others. You could pretty much hear a pin drop through the whole thing – except for the birds twittering away from the nearby fields – quite an amazing experience !
Sun rising over the memorial
At the conclusion of the service there were many wreathes laid on the steps at the front. We left pretty much when the formal service finished as we wanted to come back later with less people around so we could get access to the names on the walls to find the 3 names of relatives we were looking for.
So we headed back to the hotel to have our breakfast – we were back there about 07:15. As we left the site there were cars literally parked on both sides of the road all the way from the memorial to the actual town of Villers Bretonneux – about 2 km !
Peronne Cemetery – the resting place of Albert Mumford
After breakfast we had a bit of a lull – I updated my overdue blogs – then we headed out to visit some other WWI sites and find the graves of the relatives I had found. First stop was Peronne, about 45km east from Amiens, to find Peronne Communal Cemetery and the grave site of Albert Ernest Mumford who is my cousin, twice removed (on Grandma Anderson’s side – the Gilberts – he would have been Gran’s cousin). Albert was killed on 1 September 1918 – just 2 months before the end of the war – as the Allies advanced against the germans, pushing them back to the Hindenburg Line as the war came to a close. Albert was 1 of 3,000 casualties over the 3 days of the battle in which they finally took and held the town of Peronne.
(I won’t put the full detail of all the ones I have in this blog – I might add it to the blog when I get home).
Pozieres Windmill site had been popular for Aussie visits
After a couple of wrong turns we finally found the cemetery – down a back street amongst suburban Peronne streets – this war cemetery is actually an attachment to the town cemetery. We found the headstone and left a small Australian Flag and poppy as a memento of our visit. There was no indication of any previous visitors. These cemeteries are wonderfully maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, with the lawns and gardens immaculate.
From here we visited a couple of Australian Division Memorials and significant battle sites – Pozieres being one. This had been a bloody battle and a ridge on which a windmill had sat became a significant spot for the Australian’s advance.
We then visited a site which has largely been untouched for the 90 odd years since the war ended. It was significant for the Canadians – the small “Newfoundlanders” played a significant part in the battle here and the families of the soldiers bought the land in 1922. When Newfoundland became part of Canada, the Canadian government took over its maintenance and the site has a number of original trenches – both Allied and German over quite a large area. One of the guides told us the paths are clearly marked and roped off as since it has remained untouched there is a lot of unexploded ammunition around the site.
War Memorial at Morlancourt
Our travels then took us to Morlancourt, the area where my grandfather, Emerson Anderson, was located when he was awarded the Miltary Medal for bravery in the field. He was a signaller and during a heavy German attack on 29th July 1918, which continually cut the communication lines, he repaired the lines on 4 occassions under heavy fire thus keeping vital communication in tact. I left an Australian Flag and poppy at the town war memorial as a tribute to him.
We also went back to the Australian Memorial at Villers Bretonneux to find the names on the wall of rememberance for those relatives killed who have no known grave – 3 names Horace Hunter, David Deas (again from Gran Anderson’s side) and Henry Alderton (from the Hollis side – Mum’s father). Our last visits for the day were to the actual village of Villers Bretonneux – where we visited the Victoria School, built from donations from Victorian school children after the war to help rebuild the school destroyed during the war – then to Daours – to Daours Communal Cemetery to leave our mementos at Edwin Alderton’s headstone.
Edwin, Henry’s brother (above) was killed accidentally on 28 August 1918 – he was playing cards with mates when one of them picked up a german grenade that had been lying around unexploded. It went off and killed 3 of the group – Edwin being one of them – and injuring others.
After our early start, we had a late lunch (when we could finally find something open – Maccas, what else!) then headed back to the hotel – Adrienne’s sore foot had given out by this stage anyway. We had a restful afternoon (but I’ve told them not to let it get them too soft !) and dinner in the restaurant here again.
Either the french aren’t as good with their english as the germans or they have been a bit flustered by all the Austalians around but it has been a lot more difficult communicating with the wait staff here – one table next to us ordered a club sandwich and got a caesar salad !
At least we got menus in English tonight as last night we had to decipher the french menu. The wait staff were clearly flustered – one french gent on his own came in and after a while he had to track a waiter down to get a french menu – they had given him an english one !
It is our last day in France tomorrow when we will visit a couple more cemeteries on our way to Lille to catch our train back to London – and our final few days……….