Clough resident James Glencross was part of a group from this part of County Down who travelled over to visit some of the World War One battlefields in France and Belgium and to pay their respects to the soldiers who lost their lives on them.
A relative of James was one of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of his country.
Cllr Alan Lewis, who helped to organise the trip, explained that James wasn’t aware the group would be visiting the cemetery where his relative, and namesake, was buried.
Dadizeele New British Cemetery is 16km east of Ypres in Belgium.
Cllr Lewis said: “At Dadizeele New British Cemetery, tour guide and historian John Duffield and I presented James Glencross with a Commonwealth War Graves certificate in memory of his grandfather’s cousin, Rifleman James Glencross, (aged 26) 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles.
“A surprise for James, John had researched this in advance and the cemetery had been kept off the itinerary. It was a very special moment for the family.”
The local councillor added that Rifleman Glencross, who was from Belfast, was killed during the assault on Hill 41, which took place in the Ypres area in the early autumn of 1918.
Speaking afterwards, James said: “I am deeply honoured, very emotional and forever grateful that I had the opportunity to visit the final resting place of my relative and namesake.
“It is poignant that all these years later I was stood on the very location this young Belfast man, my relative, lost his life.
“The experience will forever be close to my heart and remembered by my family with pride and sorrow.”
During their trip the local group also visited the Menin Gate.
A war memorial in Ypres, The Menin Gate is dedicated to 54,896 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient during World War One and whose graves are unknown.
The memorial is located at the eastern exit of Ypres and marks the starting point for one of the main roads that led soldiers to the frontline at the Somme.
The Last Post, the traditional final salute to the fallen, is played by the buglers of the Last Post Association to honour the memory of the soldiers of the former British Empire and its allies, who died in the Ypres Salient during WWI.
It is the intention of the Last Post Association to maintain this daily act of homage in perpetuity.
Every evening at exactly 8pm, police officers halt the traffic passing under the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing to allow the buglers to play their simple but moving tribute.
On the 1st of July, which is the date the Battle of the Somme commenced in 1916, Cllr Lewis, his wife Zoe, his sister Claire and his mother Janette took part in the ceremony, laying a wreath in remembrance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and aren’t honoured by a known grave.
Speaking afterwards, Claire said she would encourage people to visit the battlefields of the Western Front at least once.
“The huge sacrifice paid by our brave young men is evident in every headstone, memorial and inscription,” Claire said.
“The British and Allied forces are held in deep reverence by the people of Belgium.”
She said it was an honour to be present at the Menin Gate “in solemn and dignified remembrance of those who never came home”.
Claire added: “This year on the 11th of November, I will certainly have a deeper understanding of the sheer tragedy and devastation of war.”
