Inside

A box. No ordinary box but a box of memories. A box of family photos.
On the way home from Nelson Trev and I called on a cousin to pick up a couple of photos of our great uncle George Smith. They were in a box named for another cousin and so had never been opened by this one but on the weekend he decided to look in case that was where George Smith was hiding and sure enough there he was. He said take the box and look at the lot, you might know who they are.
In October the Tyne Cot Cemetery will be holding a commemoration for those that died 100 years ago in the battle for Passchendaele. George Smith from West Eyreton, Canterbury, New Zealand died in that battle. A Belgian named Richard Verhaeghe who had emigrated to Canada, also died in that horrific 100 day battle that see sawed back and forth across a few miles of land. Both George and Richard were buried where they fell in their respective New Zealand and Canadian fronts. When fighting ceased both were removed and their remains buried side by side at Tyne Cot. They were identified by their dog tags.
Earlier this year Bart, who lives in Belgium, volunteered to stand with 12,000 others by a headstone of a soldier at Tyne Cot Cemetery. Bart had been researching Belgian men who had emigrated to Canada and then come back to fight in their homeland. Richard was one of these. He died 3kms from his home town. Bart visited Richards grave and when he saw George next to him he researched him and found they were buried side by side on the same day. Bart then googled Wikitree, a website where anyone can record their family, and found the tree I had put on there. He got in touch telling me what he and his wife will be doing and did I have a photo of George. I rang around the cousins, none of whom had heard of George, and certainly no photo. This cousin however decided to look through his mothers old photos and there was George.
One is a more formal photo taken before he left NZ. Two are of him alone and with a mate acting the goat in a studio in Oxford St London. The fourth is the West Eyreton war memorial where his name is recorded. I can now send a copy to Bart to hold as he honours George for the part he played at Passchendaele.
If you are interested in attending the commemoration or even just registering someone you know who lies there then just google Tyne Cot, or Passchendale Cemetery or Silent City meets Living City which is what the event is called Link here I feel very humbled that Bart will be standing with George.
NB 12,000 graves with known soldiers have a headstone at Tyne Cot . There are 35,000 others named on the memorials there that were unidentified.