Summer Holiday Part 4

The next day was the last of our WW1 visits.  We drove from Gouy-sous-Bellonne to Bullecourt, where a small Australian memorial holds a statue of a Digger, with the touching story of how the sculptor based the Digger on his father who served and died in the war.  From here we went to the Thiepval visitor centre and memorial for the missing.  The memorial was massive and poignant, holding the names of over 70,000 commonwealth soldiers who resting places are unknown.  The visitor centre had a very detailed and interesting display on the main battles that occurred in the area, and gave personal stories of a few of the families affected heavily by the war.

Digger Statue at Bullecourt

Thiepval Memorial to the Missing

Australian monument at the Poziers Windmill

From then on we visited some important Austrlian war sites, including the windmill site and the 1st Australian Division memorial at Poziers, and the Australian National Memorial and the Franco-Australian Museum at Villers-Brettoneux.  The national memorial was a highlight for the trip because, in addition to being one of the most peaceful and sites, both Sam and Margot have relatives who are commemorated here.  It was special to find these names and place a poppy to remember them.

Australian National Monument

The town of Villers-Bretonneux had a very distinct presence.  Victoria School, home to the museum, is funded and sponsored by Australian schools, and there was a sign above the entrance to one of the buildings stating in large green and gold letters, 'Do Not Forget Australia.' A number of the streets were named after Australian cities, and we went to a little cafe called Melbourne (but the food was bad and expensive so we left without eating there).

Victoria School at Villers-Bretonneux

We stopped at Peronne for a late lunch, only to find that all the restaurants and cafes stopped lunch service at 2:30, so we shamefully resigned ourselves to McDonalds (yes, the Big Mac is called the Le Big Mac. Hilarious.).  We finished the day with a lazy afternoon, resting and recharging during our last night at Gouy-sous-Bollonne before the next phase of our holiday.

http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/others/arras2.html
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/thiepval.html
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/pozieres.html
http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/villers-bretonneux/town-of-villers-bretonneux.html