Cemeteries -- Belgium; Cemeteries -- France; George V, King of Great Britain, 1865-1936; World War, 1914-1918 -- Cemeteries
One more act of homage was to be made. The King and Queen, passing slowly
through the cemetery, ascended the steps to the Stone of Remembrance and
then, bending lowly, the Queen placed before the stone, over which was
draped the Union Jack--the merited pall of a soldier's tomb--a wreath of
rosemary for remembrance, and carnations, these last of the colour which
takes its name from the stricken battle-field of Magenta. The French Guard
of Honour saluted, lowering their standard. Its colours, mingled with the
colours of our flag and with the deep purple of the Queen's tribute,
suffused the white stone as with heroes' blood. The King and those around
him saluted, while from the bugles of the Coldstream and Grenadier Guards,
posted near the Great Napoleon's Column, there came the sound, as of a
long-drawn-out sigh, of "The Last Post."
There is no music, of all the music of the world, that so brings home to
the soldier's heart, proud sorrow, healing consolation. In the daily round
of his dutiful work "The Last Post" comes to tell him of the end of a day
of this troublous life, that the shades have lengthened, the evening
come, the busy world hushed, his work done, and he may rest. And, when he
goes to the graveside to say the last farewell to a comrade who has found
for ever peace, he hears again "The Last Post," to say to him that his
mate is not dead, but sleepeth, and will rise again. The common and
everyday use of the music takes nothing from its nobility, but constantly
communicates its message of immortality so as to make of it a habit of
mind.
The call of "The Last Post" ended; and to the closing moment of the King's
pilgrimage came a sense of over-powering emotion, which made men look
resolutely forward, not wishing to catch their neighbour's glance. The
spirits of the mighty army of the dead seemed to marshall in that God's
Acre, set high on the cliff looking over the sea; come to receive the
homage of the King, for whom they died, and to hear that in the land which
they saved their names will live for evermore.
FRANK FOX.
The King's Thanks
On the point of leaving France, the King sent the following telegram to
the President of the French Republic:--
I have to-day brought to an end a visit to the graves of my countrymen
who gave their lives on the battle-fields of France, and now lie
covered by the same blood-stained soil as, alas! so many of their
heroic French brothers-in-arms.
Before leaving Boulogne, I desire, Monsieur le President, to send to
you from a full heart, and speaking in the name of all the people of
my Empire, a message of profound gratitude for the generous gift of
the ground for ever hallowed by the memories of common sorrows and
glories. These memories must recall for all time the sentiment of
faithful comradeship which inspired those who fell side by side in the
Great War, and which was bequeathed by them as a sacred legacy to our
two nations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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