Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke

There are many war graves in this area of northern Belgium but Tyne Cot is one of the largest. It is the place of rest for almost 12,000 Commonwealth servicemen who fell in the great war, over 8,000 of them unidentified. It is immaculately kept by the War Graves Commission it is probably the most haunting place I have ever visited. As well as the usual ranks of headstones there is an excellent museum that has a permanently rolling video of photos and details of all the young men lost on the Ypres Salient. Whatever your views on war are this is a very important location and deserves all the upkeep it needs. It is also very near many smaller cemeteries as well as Ypres and the Menin Gate.

A visit to Tyne Cot takes all words from you, there are no adjectives to describe the horrors that these men must have endured before their untimely slaughter. Nearly 8 and half thousand of the 11,000 + are nameless unidentified souls. With some headstones marking the resting place of several men. And yet as large as it is, Tyne Cot only represents a fraction of the 9.7 million soldiers who died during the Great War. The cross and sword memorial is built atop a German blockhouse. You can see the concrete of the original structure through the wreath that celebrates its capture by the 3rd Australian Division.