Helen Mark goes to Flanders, to a place that Winston Churchill described as "a more sacred place for the British race does not exist in all the world", where over 250,000 soldiers of the British Empire died in the Great War. Helen Mark makes a personal journey across the Ieper Salient, where the bloodiest fighting of the war took place, to the Menin Gate in Ieper itself, where the Last Post is played each night in memory of the British soldiers who fought and gave their lives during the war.

Helen’s first stop is Varlet Farm, which is built on the site of one of the Great War’s most ferocious battles, in which over 3000 soldiers died in a nine day period. For Charlotte and her husband Dirk, harvesting potatoes also means hand grenades, around 170 a year. Since learning about the history of their land, Charlotte has collected the waste of war churned up in her fields, creating a museum in one of her barns.

Aurel Sercu heads a team of amateur archaeologists who are desperately trying to preserve the history beneath their feet. They are working fast to stop an industrial estate from destroying remnants of the war. They struggle to keep ahead of the bulldozers and have unearthed bones, skulls and army boots with the ankle bones still inside. Aurel feels a sense of duty to the relatives of those who fought.
The Diggers

Helen's next stop is one of the many war cemeteries that are such a feature of Flanders' flat landscape. Father Ray Jones, Chaplain at St Georges Church, lays to rest the bodies of WW1 soldiers that are still regularly unearthed. As a war veteran himself, Ray understands to some extent the experiences of these soldiers. He explains his role and why we must learn lessons from the past.

Piet Chielens, a curator at Flanders Fields Museum, grew up hearing stories of those who lived in Ypres during the fighting and remembers the harsh realities rather than the glamorous imagery of the Great War. He’s battling to block plans for a motorway that will destroy Pilkem Ridge, where 5000 men died in a day of fierce combat.
Flanders Fields Museum

Guy Gruwez, chairman of the Last Post Committee, joins Helen at the Menin Gate. The Last Post has sounded every night here since 1 July 1928, apart from during the Nazi occupation. It was initially born out of a desire among Belgians to express their gratitude towards the men of the British empire who fought and died during the war. A dedicated team of six buglers from the Ypres volunteer fire brigade offer a powerful symbol of remembrance. They play under the arches of the Menin Gate, where the names of 55,000 soldiers whose bodies have never received a named burial are engraved in stone.
The Last Post, Menin Gate

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