Belgium - Menin Gate Memorial - Ieper

Work began to construct The Menin Gate in June 1923. After four years of extensive works and inevitable politics the unveiling ceremony took place on July 24th, 1927 and was attended by King George V, King Albert I, many other distinguished guests, 15,000 pilgrims and visitors, and a BBC radio broadcasting unit. The Gate was formally unveiled by Field Marshal Plumer.

Standing on the South East side of Ypres town (called Ieper today), The Menin Gate was raised to commemorate those Commonwealth soldiers who had died defending the strategically placed town between 1914 & 1917, and who had no known grave. It was not built, as many still think today, to celebrate any victory.

Such was the scale of allied losses in defence of the town that 54,000 names completely filled its panels. A further 34,000 names that could not be fitted into the limited space were placed on the Tyne Cot Memorial a few kilometres away.

Apart from a pause through WW2, the sounding of the Last Post has been held at the Gate every night since 1928, as a perpetual act of thanks by the people of Ypres. In a nightly routine the traffic is stopped, the Last Post is played by buglers of the Last Post Committee and then life resumes its pace. Whether shared with one or two, or thousands in the case of Remembrance Day services in November, one cannot fail to be moved by the ceremony.

Menin Gate Panels 30 & 32 list all Canadian Mounted Rifles regiments (1st, 2nd, 4th & 5th) together.

710 CMR soldiers are listed over 16 tablets: two tablets on Panel 30 and fourteen tablets on Panel 32.

In total 236 (33%) of the men listed on Panels 30 and 32 are 4th CMR.

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Click here for a full list of 4th CMR men on Panels 30 and 32, and for linked images of the tablets their names appear on.

Images on this page supplied by 4cmr.com