The
following descriptions are copied courtesy the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
web site
http://www.cwgc.org
Return to Honor Roll page:
THE MENIN GATE MEMORIAL, Ypres, Belgium
The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient, over which 3 major battles were fought in the First World War. Ypres (now Ieper) is a town in the Province of West Flanders.
The battles of the Ypres Salient claimed many lives on both sides and it quickly became clear that the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth forces with no known grave would have to be divided between several different sites. The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates those of all Commonwealth nations.
The Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town on the road to Menin (Menen) and Courtrai (Kortrijk). Each night at 8 pm the traffic is stopped at the Menin Gate while members of the local Fire Brigade sound the Last Post in the roadway under the Memorial's arches. The YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick, was unveiled by Lord Plumer 24 July 1927.
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Shawnee County WW1 Casualty is named on the Menin Gate Memorial:
Lt. Harry SWENDSON (DAVENPORT)
During the First World War, the village of Lijssenthoek was situated on the main communication line between the Allied military bases in the rear and the Ypres battlefields. Close to the Front, but out of the extreme range of most German field artillery, it became a natural place to establish casualty clearing stations. The cemetery was first used by the French 15th Hopital D'Evacuation and in June 1915, it began to be used by casualty clearing stations of the Commonwealth forces. From April to August 1918, the casualty clearing stations fell back before the German advance and field ambulances (including a French ambulance) took their places. The cemetery contains 9,901 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 883 war graves of other nationalities, mostly French and German. The only concentration burials are 24 added to Plot XXXI in 1920 from isolated positions near Poperinghe and 17 added to Plot XXXII from St. DENIJS CHURCHYARD in 1981. It is the second largest Commonwealth cemetery in Belgium. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
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Shawnee County WW1 Casualty is buried in Lissenthoek Cemetery
Sapper William Frank KARR
The first burials were made in Plot I of the cemetery in September 1915, but it was most heavily used during the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917. The dead were brought to the cemetery from casualty clearing stations, chiefly the 18th and the 23rd at Lapugnoy and Lozinghem, but between May and August 1918 the cemetery was used by fighting units. Lapugnoy Military Cemetery contains 1,323 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 11 from the Second World War, all dating from May 1940. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Before March, 1916, Aubigny was in the area of the French Tenth Army, and 327 French soldiers were buried in the Extension to the West of what is now Plot IV. From March 1916 to the Armistice, Aubigny was held by Commonwealth troops and burials were made in the Extension until September 1918. The 42nd Casualty Clearing Station buried in it during the whole period, the 30th in 1916 and 1917, the 24th and 1st Canadian in 1917 (during the capture of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps) and the 57th in 1918. The Extension now contains 2,771 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and seven from the Second World War. There are also 227 French burials made prior to March 1916, and 64 German war graves. The Extension was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
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Shawnee County WW1 Casualty is buried in Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension Cemetery
see Find A Grave Memorial
Anneux is a village to the south of the main road from Cambrai to Bapaume. The Cemetery is 200 metres from the junction of the N30 and D15. The original cemetery was made by the 57th Division Burial Officer and by various units in October 1918. At the Armistice it contained 131 graves but was then greatly increased when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields and small cemeteries in the area, including:- DELMADGE CEMETERY, FONTAINE-NOTRE DAME, 900 metres North-East of the railway station, contained the graves of Lieut. R.B. Delmadge and 23 other Canadian soldiers who fell in September and October, 1918. FLOT FARM CEMETERY, MARCOING, on the South side of a farm nearly 1.6 Kms West of Rumilly village. Thirty-four soldiers of the 2nd O.B.L.I., who fell on the 1st October, were buried there in one grave. Anneux British Cemetery now contains 1,013 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 459 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate seven casualties believed to be buried among them. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
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Shawnee County WW1 Casualty is buried in Anneux Cemetery
P. O. Box 4048
Topeka, KS
66604-0048