{"id":9090,"date":"2010-08-30T00:21:10","date_gmt":"2010-08-29T13:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=9090"},"modified":"2010-08-30T00:21:10","modified_gmt":"2010-08-29T13:21:10","slug":"fffaif-wf-tour-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=9090","title":{"rendered":"FFFAIF WF Tour Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of The Families and Friends of the First AIF<\/em> took part in the inaugural Western Front Commemorative Tour<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>from 14th<\/sup> to 27th<\/sup> July 2010.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Tour started in Ieper, Belgium\u00a0and over the next 14 days followed the Anzacs’ trail through the battlefields of Belgium and France visiting places of significance to the First AIF during the Great War, concluding with a visit to the Museum of the Armistice at Compiegne.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The true Anzac Spirit shone through on the Tour<\/em><\/p>\n

The Tour was intended to\u00a0provide participating FFFAIF members with a unique and memorable experience and by all accounts the Tour was successful on both accounts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Who can forget a visit to Tyne Cot Cemetery?<\/em><\/p>\n

The photographic record that follows, supplied by Tour participant Heather Ford,\u00a0gives a glimpse into some of the truly memorable times experienced by those who came along for the Tour and others who joined in along the way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tour co-leader Matt Smith and Froggie\u00a0Cobber\u00a0Yves Fohlen<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Brendan Nelson, Australian Ambassador to Belgium, Luxemburg and the EU at Menin Gate, Ieper<\/em><\/p>\n

Commemorations and cemetery visits were the \u2018driving force\u2019 behind the Tour\u2019s itinerary.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Group commemorations were a highlight of the Tour
\n(Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L’Abbe, Somme)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tour Commemoration at the remote Hourges\u00a0Orchard Cemetery, Domart-Sur-La-Luce<\/em><\/p>\n

All five AIF Divisional Memorials were visited: 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Division Memorial at Pozieres; 2nd<\/sup> Division Memorial at Mont St Quentin; 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0Division Memorial at Sailly-le-Sec; 4th<\/sup>\u00a0Division Memorial at Bellenglise; 5th<\/sup> Division Memorial at Polygon Wood.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Visiting the 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0Division Memorial at Sailly-le-Sec<\/em><\/p>\n

The Tour provided a wide variety of\u00a0opportunities\u00a0across the Western Front. Including:<\/p>\n

visiting trenches and blockhouses,<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

meeting with Lambis\u00a0Englezos and Tim Whitford at Pheasant Wood, Fromelles,<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

attending the dedication of the new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles,<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/em><\/a>
\n[Photographer: Mike Rimmer]<\/p>\n

sitting on the new John & Hazelle Laffin\u00a0Memorial bench at Toc\u00a0H Poperinghe,<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n(FFFAIF Committee Members at Toc H)<\/em><\/p>\n

and visiting the Canadian National Memorial at Vimy Ridge.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The happy group of travellers after their time at Bullecourt\u00a0which included a visit to the Museum of Jean and Denise Letaille.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

More tour photographs, provided by tour participants, will be posted as they become available over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

*****<\/em><\/p>\n

The Families and Friends of the First AIF<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0thanks the Australian, UK and French Governments for affording Australian and British soldiers dignified individual reburials in the new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds the Australian and British Governments for their joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of The Families and Friends of the First AIF took part in the inaugural Western Front Commemorative Tour from 14th to 27th July 2010. The Tour started in Ieper, Belgium\u00a0and over the next 14 days followed the Anzacs’ trail … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,73,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2010-commemorative-tour","category-events","category-members-first-aif"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}