In the afternoon the peace flag was unfurled and a performance by the West Yorkshire Police Band followed on the Grote Markt in Ypres. Later in the day there will be another carillon concert and the concert ‘The Great War Remembered’. The commemoration day ends with the daily Last Post at the Menin Gate.
Those present included Flemish Prime Minister Matthias Diependaele and Flemish Minister Melissa Depraetere. Diependaele delivered the so-called ‘exhortation’ during the ceremony, followed by a minute’s silence. Wannes Cappelle, among others, provided the musical accompaniment during the ceremony with the song ‘A thousand soldiers’.
Since 1927, the Menin Gate in Ypres has been an international symbol of commemoration of the more than 54,000 missing soldiers from WWI. Every evening at 8 p.m. the Last Post is played there by the members of the Last Post Association. The restoration works started in 2023, costing a total of 6 million euros. 1.4 million euros came from Flanders, 300,000 euros from the city of Ypres and the remaining costs were paid by the member states of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Australia, India, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The works were completed at the end of April, allowing Armistice Day to be commemorated again under the Menin Gate.