The Last Post

I'm usually very careful about which charities I donate money to. There are a lot of scams out there, and there are even more legitimate charities that spend most of the money on bureaucracy and their own staff than on their projects.
That being said, I send money every year to The Last Post Association in Ypres. In 1928, the British Legion and the Old Contemptibles gave four silver trumpets to the town of Ypres, and every night since men of the Ypres Fire Brigade blow the Last Post at the Menin Gate at 8pm. The only exception was between 1940-1944, for obvious reasons. The Last Post Association state that, on the evening that the town was liberated, the practice began again.
On 9 July, 2015 the Last Post will be blown for the 30,000th time at the Menin Gate.

In 2010, we came for my 25th birthday (yes, I know-- I do get teased for my taste in vacations) because my birthday is 11 November. My great-grandfather was at 2nd Ypres (St Julien) the Somme, 3rd Ypres (Passchendaele) and in the reserve trenches at Vimy Ridge in 1917. (He wasn't part of the first assault, but he did take part in the battle.) On 11 November every year, there is a Remembrance ceremony at the Menin Gate. It was incredibly powerful. We were a part of the Poppy Parade, which meets at St. George's Memorial Chapel that morning, and marches through the streets to the Menin Gate, so we were able to be under the Gate during the ceremony.
The Fire Brigade blew the Last Post, and the Mayor of Ypres spoke. He said that he is asked regularly how long they plan to do this? The Last Post and the 11 November Remembrance Ceremony? He was entirely serious and grave when he leaned forward into the microphone and said, "Forever. We will do this forever." And that is the motto of the Last Post Association.

Our first night (14 August) we went to the ceremony. There were easily 700 people present; and the South Wales Men's Choir were present and sang two hymns. The Welsh National Memorial opened in the Ypres Salient on the 16th, and they were there to represent Wales. The Ypres police stop all traffic through the Menin Gate at 19:30, at 19:55 the crowd is shushed, and at 20:00 the Last Post is blown. On the night of the 14th, the Coventry Airborne Association were also present, and the winners of the Beaverbrook Vimy Prize-- Canadian high school students who come over to see the battlefields and learn about their country's place in the War.

Just as when we were there for the 11 November Ceremony, people who lost family members in the War, especially those who are remembered on the Gate, can request to lay a Poppy Wreath as part of the ceremony. This time, 4 families laid wreaths. On 11 November, about 20 laid wreaths, and for me the most moving were a party of Sikhs who had traveled from India to lay wreaths in remembrance of their grandfathers who had died in the Ypres Salient fighting for the British Empire. Soldiers from all over the world are remembered on the Menin Gate. Indeed, their names are spoken daily by those who come to visit. They will never be forgotten.