90th anniversary of the opening of Menin Gate

The 90th anniversary of the opening of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ieper (Ypres), Belgium, will be observed today at the Australian War Memorial’s Last Post Ceremony.

The ceremony – itself an homage to the one that occurs nightly at the Menin Gate – will tell the story of Private William Charles Delaney, who was killed in action in Belgium in 1917 at the age of 35. His name is inscribed on the Menin Gate as one of the 55,000 who died in the fighting around Ypres but have no known grave.

The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing was the first of its kind established by the Imperial War Graves Commission, and architect Sir Reginald Blomfield said it was a work by which he wished to be remembered. The ancient gateway on the eastern side of the city of Ieper was originally called the Hangoartpoort, or Hangoart Gate. By the outbreak of the First World War it was known as the Menenpoort or “Menin Gate”, as the road running through it led to the nearby city of Menen.

Memorial Director Dr Brendan Nelson, who will attend the 90th anniversary commemorations in Ieper, said that for the British and Dominion soldiers who passed through the gate on their way to the front lines it came to represent a rite of passage. This distinction was keenly felt by the troops, as so many never returned from the fighting.

“The history of the gate and what it symbolised for a generation of soldiers cannot be understated; the 90th anniversary is a pertinent reminder of the men Will Longstaff depicted in his famous work Menin Gate at midnight, which we proudly display in Canberra,” Dr Nelson said.

The iconic Menin Gate lions, which were donated to the Australian War Memorial in 1936, have been transported back to their original home in Ieper for the upcoming commemorations of the battles that occurred on the Ypres salient in 1917 came to be known collectively as Passchendaele.

“As a symbol of the ongoing friendship between our two countries, the Menin Gate and, in particular, the lions symbolise everything we fought for 100 years ago – strength through adversity, and not forgetting those who have gone before. Despite being thousands of miles away, the Australian War Memorial is honoured to mark this important anniversary in our own way at the Last Post Ceremony in Canberra. The story of Private Delaney is but one of the stories of service and sacrifice that unite us, and even as we commemorate this milestone we look to a bright future, with a solid sentinel to guide us,” Dr Nelson said.

The Memorial has commissioned a documentary by renowned producer Max Uechtritz on the journey of the lions to their original home in Ieper. Filming took place at the Memorial, on board a Royal Australian Air Force C-17 aircraft, and at the Menin Gate. The piece will highlight the bond between Australia and Belgium, forged in the unimaginable circumstances of the First World War.

The lions will return to Canberra at the end of 2017.