Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing
Commonwealth of Nations
For missing soldiers of World War I
Unveiled	24 July 1927
Location	50°51′07.6″N, 02°53′30.1″E near Ieper, West Flanders, Belgium
Designer	Sir Reginald Blomfield
To the armies of the British Empire who stood here from 1914 to 1918 and to those of their dead who have no known grave

The Menin Gate Memorial at the eastern exit of the town of Ypres (known as "Ieper" in Dutch) in Flanders, Belgium, marks the starting point for one of the main roads out of the town that led Allied soldiers to the front line during World War I. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and built by the British government, the Menin Gate Memorial opened on July 24, 1927 as a monument dedicated to the missing British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the fierce battles around the Ypres Salient area who have no known grave. Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations. ... The Commonwealth of Nations (CN), usually known as The Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states all of which are former colonies of the United Kingdom, except for Mozambique and the United Kingdom itself. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2351x1563, 574 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Menin Gate User:Redvers/Gallery ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna... July 24 is the 205th day (206th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 160 days remaining. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar). ... Ypres (French, generally used in English1; Ieper official name in the local Dutch/Flemish) is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of West Flanders. ... West Flanders (Dutch: West-Vlaanderen) is the westernmost province of Flanders and of Belgium. ... Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856–27 December 1942) was a British architect, garden designer and author. ... The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST, internally called HT-7U) is a project being undertaken to construct an experimental superconducting tokamak magnetic fusion energy reactor in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui Province, in eastern China. ... Main street in Bastrop, Texas, a small town A town is a residential community of people ranging from a few hundred to several thousands, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas. ... Ypres municipality and district in the province West Flanders Ypres (French, pronounced generally used in English1) or Ieper (official name in Dutch, pronounced ) is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. ... Flanders (Dutch: ) has several main meanings: the social, cultural and linguistical, scientific and educational, economical and political community of the Flemings; generally called the Flemish community (others refer to this as the Flemish nation) which is, with over 6 million inhabitants, the majority of all Belgians; the constituent governing institution... In general, allies are people or groups that have joined an alliance and are working together to achieve some common purpose. ... Modern soldiers. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna... Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856–27 December 1942) was a British architect, garden designer and author. ... The United Kingdom is a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy. ... July 24 is the 205th day (206th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 160 days remaining. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar). ... The Commonwealth of Nations (CN), usually known as The Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states all of which are former colonies of the United Kingdom, except for Mozambique and the United Kingdom itself. ... There were four Battles of Ypres during World War I: First Battle of Ypres (October 19 – November 22, 1914) Second Battle of Ypres (April 22 – May 15, 1915) Third Battle of Ypres (July 31 – November 6, 1917) (also known as Passchendaele) Fourth Battle of Ypres (September 28 – October 2, 1918...

"Menin" is the French and hence English name for Menen, a small Flemish town to the east of Ypres. Menen is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. ...

The "Gate" was merely the gap in the city's star-shaped fortifications designed by Louis XIV's engineer Vauban, which were pointless in the age of shelling: Ypres was reduced to rubble. Sun King redirects here. ... Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban (May 15, 1633 - March 30, 1707), commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and in breaking through them. ... A shell is a projectile, which, as opposed to a bullet, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage includes large solid projectiles previously termed shot (AP, APCR, APCNR, APDS, APFSDS and Proof shot). ...

Reginald Blomfield's triumphal arch, designed in 1921, is the entry to the barrel-vaulted passage for traffic through the mausoleum that honors the Missing, who have no known graves. The patient lion on the top is the lion of Britain but also the lion of Flanders. Its large "Hall of Memory" contains the names of 54,896 soldiers who died before August 15, 1917, incised into vast panels. Menin Gate Memorial does not list the names of the missing of New Zealand and Newfoundland soldiers who are honoured on separate memorials. It was chosen to be a memorial as it was the closest gate of the town to fighting, and so Allied Troops would have marched passed on their way to fight. In actual fact most troops passed out of the other gates of Ypres as the Menin Gate was too dangerous due to shellfire. Arc de Triomphe, Paris A triumphal arch is a structure in the shape of a monumental archway, usually built to celebrate a victory in war. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for full calendar). ... Barrel vault In architecture, a barrel vault is an extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. ... St. ... Binomial name Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution of Lions in Africa Synonyms Felis leo (Linnaeus, 1758) The lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae and one of four big cats in the genus Panthera. ... August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining. ... Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see Newfoundland (disambiguation). ...

The names of another 34,984 of those who died without graves in the area between August 16, 1917 and the end of the war, are recorded on plaques at the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing located just outside the village of Passchendaele which had been liberated by Canadian troops at great human cost. The attached cemetery is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the world with nearly 12,000 graves. August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of World War I located in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. ... Combatants British Empire Australia Canada New Zealand United Kingdom France German Empire Commanders Douglas Haig Hubert Gough Herbert Plumer Arthur Currie Max von Gallwitz Erich Ludendorff Strength Unknown Unknown Casualties 448,000 killed and wounded 260,000 killed and wounded The 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third... The Azmak Cemetery, near Suvla Bay, Turkey, contains the graves of some of the soldiers who died during the Gallipoli Campaign. ...

"The Last Post"

Following the Menin Gate Memorial opening in 1927, the citizens of Ypres wanted to express their gratitude towards those who had given their lives for Belgium's freedom. As such, every evening at 8.00, buglers from the local fire brigade close the road which passes under the Memorial and play the Last Post. Except for the occupation by the Germans in World War II when the daily ceremony was conducted at Brookwood Military Cemetery, in Surrey, England, this ceremony has been carried on uninterrupted since, July 2nd, 1928. On the very evening that Polish forces liberated Ypres in the Second War, the ceremony was resumed at the Menin Gate despite the fact that heavy fighting was still taking place in other parts of the town. Military bugle in Bâ™­ A French marine bugler at a ceremony in Kuwait City celebrating the success of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 Bugler redirects here. ... Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ... The Last Post is a bugle call used at military funerals and ceremonies commemorating those who have fallen in war. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Not to be confused with Surry. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... July 2 is the 183rd day of the year (184th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 182 days remaining. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ...

The Menin Gate Memorial at night Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x800, 71 KB) NL: foto gemaakt door w:nl:gebruiker:Donderwolk, licentie GNU/FDL , Menenpoort van w:nl:Ieper File links The following pages link to this file: Menin Gate ...	The Menin Gate from http://www. ...	A few of the names of the missing Download high resolution version (502x699, 40 KB)From http://www. ...	Ceremony at the Menin Gate Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (768x1024, 180 KB) Summery Menin Gate Memorial ceremony. ...
Menin Gate at midnight by Will Longstaff (1927). Image File history File links Menin_Gate_at_midnight_(Will_Longstaff). ... Menin Gate at Midnight, 1927 Captain William Frederick Longstaff (1879-1953) was a Australian painter and war artist best known for his works commemorating those who died in the First World War. ...	Silent contemplation at the Menin Gate Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2592 × 1944 pixel, file size: 1. ...	Interior of the Menin gate Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 856 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Picture of the interior of the Menin Gate, Ieper (Ypres) in Belgium. ...

"They are not missing. They are here."

— Lord Plumer's address, 1927

Herbert Onslow Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer (1857–1932) was a British colonial official and soldier. ...

External links

• The Official Last Post Website
• Tom Morgan, "The Menin Gate, Ypres", with an excerpt from Lord Plumer's moving dedicatory address
• Siegfried Sassoon On Passing the new Menin Gate
• Last Post at the Menin Gate, Eve of July 1st 2006 - Somme 90th Anniversary

Coordinates: 50°51′7.81″N, 2°53′25.85″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...