The Achiever Issue 02 - Winter 2013/14 | Page 11

COMPANY WW1 Belgian Battlefield Tour Five cadets and Two adult instructors were kindly invited by our colleagues in The Black Watch Battalion Army Cadet Force to accompany them on their tour of the Belgian battlefields around Ypres. The highlight of this was to parade at the Menin Gate memorial ceremony where every night at 8pm the last post is sounded to remember the fallen. Other places of interest where the museums at Hill 62 were the trenches of the war where reconstructed. The rain on the day made for a very realistic experience! Flanders Fields museum in Ypres itself, Passchendaele museum and of course many memorials including “Hyde Park Corner” Tyne Cote Cemetery and the Canadian Memorial. A more poignant event was to visit the grave of the youngest person to fall in WW1. He was only 14 years old! The age of many of the cadets on the tour, quite sobering. Cadet Cockburn from 26Platoon, Livingston said, “This was my first visit to Belgium on a tour like this and I have enjoyed it very much. I would highly recommend this to anyone who gets a chance to go. “ The opportunity for 24 Cadets and six Adult Instructors to go to Belgium in September this year is now available! If interested, pass your name onto your Detachment Commander for forwarding to AUO S. Williams.