At this time of year I often think of the incredible time I spent digging and researching WW1 tunnels near Passchendaele, near Ypres. It was a privilege to work alongside the hugely talented, generous and tireless Peter Barton and his good friend Johan Vandewalle, (who happened to own a local pub!) We excavated, logged & salvaged part of a dugout for a future museum project near Tyne Cot Cemetery. A farmers house was collapsing into the tunnel system so we had the job of rescuing as much as possible before liquid concrete was pumped into the void. I seem to remember the original construction was German and it was last occupied by the British. One of the photos shows the rows of bunks we found and theres an image from the book showing what the original owners looked like! I personally discovered a set of picks and shovels, last touched by an unknown soldier in 1918! A book was published and Im pretty proud to have had a hand in it. The project was dedicated to Bert Fearns who survived the battle and who Peter was very close to. Ive been back several times with Peter and was lucky enough to spend time with a few veterans on their last visits over there, one of whom fought in tunnels very similar to this one. Unimaginable really. Heres to you Bert…
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 22:02:50 +0000
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