We had a wonderful first day with Peter Vansteenkiste. Peter was kind enough to pick us up at our hotel in Bruges.

We began the tour over coffee in the hotel. Peter explained the itinerary for the three days we would be with him. His explanation was very clear, and also made us feel even more excited about what we would see and learn during the three days we would be with him. Peter gave us a very impressive and beautifully prepared 30+ page briefing book explaining everything we would be seeing on the tour, including maps, photos, etc.

Peter then drove us to our first stop, the former site of an American WWI field hospital. It is now a working farm, where Peter and some associates of his have created a simple and yet very moving memorial to the 103 soldiers who lost their lives fighting in this area.

We then proceeded to a German cemetery. It was also quite moving. A large number of young men, teens really, are buried here. For us, this highlighted the tragedy that occurred on both sides of the war.

From there we drove to the Passchendale museum, where we saw a large variety of WWI uniforms, replicas and artifacts. It was especially interesting to see the development of helmets and camouflage, which Peter explained with great expertise in his own role as a former Belgian soldier. There was a room full of guns and artillery. We were was surprised by the actual size of the missiles used during the war. The Museum also featured a replica of the underground WWI bunkers and trenches. As we walked through the bunkers we could really sense what it must have been like for the soldiers and officers. The trenches were especially chilling, as we thought of all the young soldiers who had to live in these small spaces, open to the elements, the vermin and the oncoming fire — not just bullets, exploding shells raining shrapnel and fire on top of them.

Following our visit to Passchendale we had lunch at a very interesting restaurant owned by the founder of the Brothers in Arms project, in memory of the Australian soldiers Jim and John Hunter. The restaurant owner (Johan Vandewalle) discovered the remains of the older brother, buried with his arms folded across his chest. Johan was able to trace the story and discovered the older brother died in the arms of his younger brother. Eventually, Johan raised funds to contruct an absolutely stunning memorial to the “brothers in arms” — “in arms” both literally and figuratively. Peter also took us to Johan’s private collection of WWI items, located on the upper floor of the restaurant. This was one of the most interesting and impressive moments of our three day tour.

After lunch we went to the Tyne Cot cemetery, where Peter elaborated on the horrors of battle, and told us the stories of some of the soldiers buried there. We will never forget Peter saying so movingly how he imagined each soldier standing next to their tombstone; each with their own personal story of a life that ended too prematurely.

Next we visited Hill 60 and the “Caterpillar” crater, a massive remnant of the multiple and huge explosions resulting from a British plan to tunnel underneath German positions and plant enormous quantities of explosives. One of the explosions was so powerful that the blast wave was actually felt in London.

From there we visited the Ypres cemetery, where Peter once again told us the fascinating stories of some of the soldiers buried there. Following dinner in Ypres, we went to the Menin Gate for the “Last Post” ceremony, where Peter had arranged for us to lay a wreath. The ceremony was incredibly moving and we were deeply honored to have been able to take part in it.