Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery
Etaples, Northern France, March 2003
~English Translation~
“Dig up your rubbish. It’s fouling our soil”
“Roast-beefs go home”
“Saddam will win and spill your blood.”
"Death to the Yankees"
"Bush and Blair to be sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague"
War Dead in France, 2003
Designed
by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Etaples Military Cemetery is the largest
Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in all of France. On March
27th of 2003, British tourists photographed the desecration they
discovered there. At the graveyard where 11,000 British soldiers are
buried, most sordid graffiti was painted on their cenotaph. “Dig up
your rubbish. It’s fouling our soil” was among the sayings. Below the
memorial obelisk and Christian cross, a large swastika was scribed.
This occurred at the same time as a new poll shows that 78% of the
French people are opposed to the Coalition Forces and one third are
hoping for Saddam Hussein's victory. A spokesman for the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission said: We are deeply offended. This is the strongest language and most vile graffiti I have witnessed at a war graves cemetery.
Most soldiers buried at the cemetery were defending France at the Somme
and Ypres during WWI. Another 122 are troops who died fighting the
Nazis in WWII. Among the dead are a winner of the Victoria Cross, 217
holders of the Military Medal and 69 holders of the Military Cross. A
number had been awarded France’s top military decoration, the Legion
d’Honneur. He added: Almost every British regiment has war dead here. This insults just about the entire British Army.
Sixteen percent of the French are wishing for a Coalition victory, so
perhaps the "shocked gardener" and those who had the hateful epithets
sand-blasted, were among that small group. This story and image was
found at The Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003150899,00.html) and The Guardian
websites. A French news source commented on the precision of the words,
the absence of spelling mistakes, and the allusion to the TPI
(International Penal Court).
Coincidentally, on March 25th, at the Lorraine American Military
Cemetery in France, hundreds of high school students, during school
hours, planned an anti-war march. This was supposedly with the
approbation of their school administrators. Riot police thwarted that
march on the memorial where more than 10,000 American war dead are
interred. British journalists in Paris have reported that teenage
schoolchildren continue to march against the war, shouting violent,
hateful chants against Israel and America.
The Washington Times of April 4, 2003 published this report, Authorities
have increased vigilance over 24 U.S. military cemeteries abroad in the
wake of desecration of a memorial to allied dead of World War I at a
military cemetery in France. French President Jacques Chirac, who
has described Saddam Hussein as a "personal friend," wrote to Queen
Elizabeth to apologize for the desecration of British tombs in France.
At the same time, in France, British and American flags were being
burnt and chants shouted in support of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin
Laden. In the streets of Paris, French Jews were being assaulted.
According to The Wall Street Journal of April 11, 2003, Noam Levy, a
Jew, was beaten with an iron bar. Mr. Levy said he was shocked by "the
anti-Zionist slogans" at an antiwar demonstration he was attending. The
Journal cited demonstrators in the street shouting Long live Chirac, stop the Jews!
Mr. Chirac has never declared which side he wished to achieve victory -
the Coalition Forces or the Forces of his friend, Saddam Hussein. On
April 8th, 2003, an American A-10 warplane, flying in support of Iraqi
Freedom, was shot down over Baghdad by a French-made missile. The
French government, diplomats and media are fanning the flames of
anti-Americanism. Their Belgian colleagues are also, as shown by the
Minister of Defense who this month called for larger and larger
anti-American demonstrations in his country.
In their zeal to sabotage America and Great Britain, and what they
disparagingly call "Anglo-Saxon liberalism", France and Belgium have
brought shame to their own countries. Their attempts to humiliate their
erstwhile allies have brought irrelevancy upon themselves. Prolonging
the rule of the Butcher of Baghdad contributed to increased bloodshed
among the Iraqi innocents and Coalition Forces. Flanders Fields in
Belgium is where the brilliant poppies grow on the graves of the war
dead of those British and American families. Every year, about two
million visitors pay homage at northern France's war cemeteries, where
farmers still find human remains from the carnage on the Western Front
of four score years ago. Gardeners and caretakers visit each
Commonwealth war cemetery once a week to plant flowers and clean,
repair or replace headstones. We will never forget the cost we suffered
in the lives of our uncowardly young, to rightly free the enslaved of
France and Belgium. And, for a long, long time to come, we will not
forget the treachery of France and Belgium in the year of our Lord 2003.
The old folk tune is Roast Beef of Old England
"When mighty roast beef was the Englishman's food
It ennobl'd our veins and enriched our blood
Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good
Oh! The roast beef of Old England, and Old English roast beef."
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.
~~ from Colonel John McCrae's In Flanders Fields
Colonel McCrae, a Canadian physician, died on the Western Front
during World War I and is buried in Flanders Fields, France. Original Manuscript of Poem
The husband of my grand aunt, Florence (Richardson) Heming, is also buried in Flanders Fields, France. Frank Heming
lost his life during the Capture of Orix Trench at Arras, France. On
the 31st of August, 1918, he was buried in a mass grave with thirty of
his fallen compatriots. Frank was a young Britisher, fighting with the
Canadian infantry. Aunt Flo spent the remainder of her long life
as a widow, rearing their two young daughters alone.
In 1966, President Charles DeGaulle removed
France from the Nuclear Umbrella of NATO and told the United States to
remove all of its soldiers. "Does that include the dead Americans in military cemeteries as well?" U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk reportedly asked.
Image of Etaples Cemetery from worldisround.com ~ It is impossible to travel in Flanders and Picardy without coming across reminders of the carnage of the first World War.
The Gardener Rudyard Kipling's story of Flanders Fields including an image of British women tending the war dead after the Armistice. Jesus
saith unto her Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She,
supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if you have
borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him
away. ~~John 20:15
Neddy's Nook on the Net ~ In Flanders Fields, 2003
published to the web by Edna Barney on 12 April 2003.
The Flanders Fields poppies were created by Strenee's Creations.
The background is from Ritva Väänänen at Ritva's Gallery
CopyrightŠ 2003 to date by Edna Barney, All Rights Reserved
Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Etaples Military Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in all of France. On March 27th of 2003, British tourists photographed the desecration they discovered there. At the graveyard where 11,000 British soldiers are buried, most sordid graffiti was painted on their cenotaph. “Dig up your rubbish. It’s fouling our soil” was among the sayings. Below the memorial obelisk and Christian cross, a large swastika was scribed. This occurred at the same time as a new poll shows that 78% of the French people are opposed to the Coalition Forces and one third are hoping for Saddam Hussein's victory. A spokesman for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission said: We are deeply offended. This is the strongest language and most vile graffiti I have witnessed at a war graves cemetery. Most soldiers buried at the cemetery were defending France at the Somme and Ypres during WWI. Another 122 are troops who died fighting the Nazis in WWII. Among the dead are a winner of the Victoria Cross, 217 holders of the Military Medal and 69 holders of the Military Cross. A number had been awarded France’s top military decoration, the Legion d’Honneur. He added: Almost every British regiment has war dead here. This insults just about the entire British Army. Sixteen percent of the French are wishing for a Coalition victory, so perhaps the "shocked gardener" and those who had the hateful epithets sand-blasted, were among that small group. This story and image was found at The Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003150899,00.html) and The Guardian websites. A French news source commented on the precision of the words, the absence of spelling mistakes, and the allusion to the TPI (International Penal Court).
The Washington Times of April 4, 2003 published this report, Authorities have increased vigilance over 24 U.S. military cemeteries abroad in the wake of desecration of a memorial to allied dead of World War I at a military cemetery in France. French President Jacques Chirac, who has described Saddam Hussein as a "personal friend," wrote to Queen Elizabeth to apologize for the desecration of British tombs in France. At the same time, in France, British and American flags were being burnt and chants shouted in support of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. In the streets of Paris, French Jews were being assaulted. According to The Wall Street Journal of April 11, 2003, Noam Levy, a Jew, was beaten with an iron bar. Mr. Levy said he was shocked by "the anti-Zionist slogans" at an antiwar demonstration he was attending. The Journal cited demonstrators in the street shouting Long live Chirac, stop the Jews! Mr. Chirac has never declared which side he wished to achieve victory - the Coalition Forces or the Forces of his friend, Saddam Hussein. On April 8th, 2003, an American A-10 warplane, flying in support of Iraqi Freedom, was shot down over Baghdad by a French-made missile. The French government, diplomats and media are fanning the flames of anti-Americanism. Their Belgian colleagues are also, as shown by the Minister of Defense who this month called for larger and larger anti-American demonstrations in his country.
The husband of my grand aunt, Florence (Richardson) Heming, is also buried in Flanders Fields, France. Frank Heming lost his life during the Capture of Orix Trench at Arras, France. On the 31st of August, 1918, he was buried in a mass grave with thirty of his fallen compatriots. Frank was a young Britisher, fighting with the Canadian infantry. Aunt Flo spent the remainder of her long life as a widow, rearing their two young daughters alone.
