Following in the footsteps of her Brother

Following Walt’s death tragedy hit the Thomas family again. Two years after the war ended their youngest son Clifford died of Tuberculosis, aged just 11 years. The death certificate records his elder sister Marion being present when he died. Coming so soon after losing Walter this latest blow must have been difficult for the family to bare.

By the time of Clifford’s death Marion was a young women in her twenties and was fortunate to have enough money to indulge in her passion for travel. No doubt driven by a desire to be close to her eldest brother, Walter, she decided to retrace his steps and those of the 6^th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry, as best she could.

Marion (centre) at the Lily Pond, Ypres

In 1930, with a group of girl friends she visited the Belgium town of Ypres where Walter had spent almost a year of his life and where he had come close to death on several occasions.  She knew he had fought in the area and Ypres and the surrounding countryside was still heavily scared by the fighting which had only stopped 12 years previously.

After catching a ferry across the channel she boarded a steam train arriving at Ypres train station in June 1930. The weather was warm and dry and the young women booked into their hotel situated near to the station.

The group were keen photographers and Marion, with two of her friends, posed for a picture sat on the rim of the Lily fountain situated between their hotel and the station. From there it was a five minute walk into the centre of Ypres where they were photographed standing amongst the ruins and rubble of the once magnificent Cloth Hall, in the main square.

Marion (centre) in the ruins of the Cloth Hall, Ypres.

From the square they walked to the nearby Menin Gate. This impressive memorial to those killed in and around Ypres and have no known grave, has steps leading from road level up to the ancient Ypres ramparts.  Marion and her friends ascended the steps and posed for a photograph, looking outwards towards the ramparts, before walking along them to the smaller Lille gate where Walt had so nearly been killed in 1915.His Battalion had spent much time on the ramparts and at the Gate they posed for yet another picture.

Marion 2nd from right at the Menin Gate

Marion (far left) and friends at the Lille Gate, Ypres.

Later they visited the German bunker at Hill 60 south east of Ypres. Hill 60 was the scene of intense fighting and is the site of a memorial to 14^th Light Division of the British Army, which included the 43^rd Infantry Brigade, of which the 6^th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry was part.

Marion and friends in front and on top of, the German bunker at Hill 60