N o .124
T he T rusty S ervant
Gawain Bell’s grave
Team at Tyne Cot
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.
We went from there to Artillery Wood,
where both the Welsh bard Hedd Wyn
and the Irish poet Francis Ledwidge are
buried. Jane Anderson gave a brief talk
on Hedd Wyn’s life and how important
and symbolic his death has become to
Wales. To add substance to the talk, a
coach party from North Wales came to
Hedd Wyn’s grave as we were there and
a beautiful Welsh song was sung in his
honour.
From there we went to a spot near St
Julien where three Wykehamists died on
31 st July within the space of half an hour
and within 200 yards of each other. One
of them was Denis Hewitt and the others
John Falconer and Alexander Milne.
Painstaking research by Michael Wallis
and a visit to Denis Hewitt’s nephew had
produced a trench map which allowed
the spot where he died to be identified
with some precision.
Later that day another wreath was laid,
this time by our Sen Man John Vintcent,
who read the Kohima epitaph (‘For
your tomorrow we gave our today’) to
honour three OWs whose names are
inscribed at Tyne Cot and who have no
known grave: Hugh Graham, George
Ferard and Kenneth Wilson-Barkworth
MC. Research by Suzanne and others
had identified these three and we all felt
deeply privileged to be able to mark in
our own way their sacrifice.
Before dinner on Wednesday evening,
we were lucky enough to look at original
trench maps from Tessa Tulloch’s
father, Harry Trewman, who had served
throughout the war on both the Somme
and in Belgium. Suzanne had also
provided copies of letters from the front
from serving Wykehamists and the story
of GM Bell, housemaster of Culver Close
(now Trant’s), the only don to die in
WW1.
On our final morning we headed to the
Brandhoek cemetery and the grave of
GM Bell. James Webster laid a wreath
and we remembered him and other
13
members of the wider Wykehamical
community who died in WW1: it was
good to be reminded why Bell Gate in
Cloister is so called. Our last stop was
Talbot House in Poperinge, a place of
rest for soldiers during the war and the
inspiration for Toc H.
And so we headed back to England.
James and Michael are inspirational
guides and their learning and research
shone through in the way the trip was
organised and in all their talks and
explanations.
There can be no better way to try to
understand a battle like 3 rd Ypres than in
the company of interested Wykehamists,
guided by experts. We all felt stimulated,
moved, educated and humbled.
Webster and Wallis confer