November 11th, 2018: 100th anniversary of Armistice Day
100 years ago on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the armistice was signed in Compiegne that marked the end of the “Great War”. The armistice stopped the madness of the first world war that saw up to 15 million people, originating from no less than 24 countries and territories, killed and many more wounded for life. In Germany, this date is remembered as Volkstrauertag (national day of grieving), and the date is observed in many other countries as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day.
Armistice Day holds special importance in Belgium, where many of the most cruel battles were fought, specifically in Flanders Fields. To date, farmers near Ypres and Passchendaele find no less than 150 ton of unexploded ordnance per year. If the ordnance are unstable they are detonated in the field, but most are brought to Poelkapelle, where they are detonated in a special detonation chamber.
Last month, Logistics Plus employee Irmela Florin of our Antwerp office assisted with the delivery of a replacement detonation chamber. The cylinder of special grade steel measured 646 x 260 x 280cm, weighing 38 metric tons. The chamber came from Japan and Irmela arranged the port handling and delivery by special trailer to Poelkapelle. She previously arranged the delivery of its predecessor a few years earlier, but the chamber needs replaced every few years. Usually, we love repeat business, but in this case we do hope that this deadly harvest ends soon and that we do not need to replace the chamber again.
As a final thought, we give you the most famous poem named, In Flanders Fields, along with pictures of the detonation chamber and statues of “The Grieving Parents” to remind us about the most important message of Remembrance Day: No more war.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— By Canadian soldier/doctor, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae