Photographs of graves and scenes in Etaples military cemetery.
The contributor visited the Etaples Military Cemetery in 2012 on a school trip. Etaples is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in France. On a school trip to Hardelot earlier this year we visited Etaples military cemetery. We arrived by coach and were greeted by a massive expanse of perfectly white graves. As we were being shown around that area of France by PGL we were given a quick overview of what Etaples was, for those who did not already know. They then explained how we should go about looking for ancestors' graves if there were any. We were then sent off to do anything we wished throughout the cemetery. We had about half an hour to do so. I noticed a large group of students (either A-level or University) being lectured about Etaples. I only overheard the last minute of the lecture in which he mentioned that the graves were positioned with officers surrounding the lesser ranks, for example private, corporal, sergeant. He explained that this was a division of class and power, but I didn't understand the rest. Many of the members of my school party, when looking around, became very emotional, some even bursting into tears, whereas, I, on the other hand, was completely unaffected emotionally by the graves and was more interested in taking photos of graves with different ranks, divisions and countries, (they all had different regimental badges and inscriptions on them). Sadly I only had a poor quality disposable camera which didn't allow for very good photos which became over-exposed in most photos but most of the names, regimental badges and signs of religion are legible. The graves photographed include: Christian; England; Hinds; Chappell; Goldberg; Benjamin; Donohoe; Richards; Reed; Alcock; Harman; Marshall; Wright; Silcock; Gent; Lehfeldt.