Mullingar ONE at Flanders for Last Post ceremony

During the Great War soldiers from all corners of the British Isles fought and lost their lives on the battlefields of the Ypres Salient in the west of Belgium.The soldiers" names are engraved in stone in numerous cemeteries and on memorials, and for nearly eighty years the Last Post has been sounded every evening at the Menin Memorial Gate.The memorial"s location is especially poignant as it lies on the eastward route from the town which allied soldiers would have taken towards the fighting - many never to return.Every evening since 1928, traffic around the imposing arches of the Memorial has been stopped while the Last Post is sounded beneath the Gate by members of the local Fire Brigade.The ceremony takes place amidst the infinite rows of names of soldiers who went missing in the Great War. Over 6000 of them have no known grave and are commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial This tribute is given in honour of the memory of soldiers who fought and died there, many of whom were Irish from towns around Ireland including Mullingar.Just last week, members of Mullingar Branch O.N.E. were among a total of fifty O.N.E. members from around the country who visited the Belgium town of Ypres to commemorate the fallen soldiers from the island of Ireland who fought in the Great War (WW1) by laying wreaths and participating in the Last Post Ceremony.The trip was financed through personal funds of the members involved.