Youngsters from Sussex schools go on a trip to remember to the battlefields of the Western Front

WHY should we remember the fallen, were the Germans treated fairly in death and was the Somme such a disaster for the British?

Children on the government funded First World War battlefields trip get few answers from their expert guides. Instead, they are asked questions and told to draw their own conclusions.

But that is kind of the point of this initiative to mark the centenary of the Great War.

Yes there are the battlefield trip staples: from the last post ceremony at the Menin Gate to the customary walk in reconstructed trenches. But this trip is about trying to do something different.

Before the end of 2019, two children from every state secondary school in the country will go on the trip which is based in and around the Belgian town of Ypres.

Known as Wipers to the British troops, the historic market town witnessed some of the fiercest fighting between 1915 and 1918 with some 1.7million killed.

I joined 18 children from nine Sussex schools on the latest four day excursion.

Among the schools taking part were Seaford Head Community College, Angmering School, Chailey School, Sir Robert Woodard Academy, in Lancing, Priory School in Lewes, Hailsham Community College, Eastbourne Academy, Oak Grove College, in Worthing, and Ratton School in Eastbourne.

Many of the schools ran competitions to choose their two children, while others simply picked names out of a hat.

Following a pick up near Brighton Station, the coach took us to the Kingswood Grosvenor Hall learning centre in Ashford where the youngsters were sent off on a team building exercise.

This included everything from tug of war competitions to climbing terrifying 10-metre high climbing frames while blindfolded – and attached to safety ropes, of course.

Following their various ice breaker sessions the youngsters were introduced to their subject matter for the next few days by veteran battlefield guide Mike Scott.

One thing clear from the start was that these 12 to 17-year-olds are not going to be shielded from the horrors of what happened 100 years ago.

After explaining how the English bayonet was better designed than the German one due to the grooves which made it easy to twist while deep inside the enemy’s body, Mr Scott tells them: “This was a brutal, horrible war. Thousands upon thousands of men died in the most horrendous of ways. There was nothing pretty about this, it would have been hellish.”

With that the youngsters were sent off for an early night ahead of the first of three intense days in northern Europe.

Following a short passage on the Eurotunnel to Calais it was onto Belgium and Ypres where we were based.

The first stop was the Memorial Museum Passchendale where the pupils were asked to think about the day’s key question: how did the First World War affect ordinary people?

Inside we got an insight into what the mud-sodden battlefield would have been like thanks to a reconstructed trench and claustrophobic dugout complete with gory medical ward and operating theatre.

Ethan Woods, left, 15, from Chailey School, said it helped bring the battlefield to life.

He added: “It's a much better way of learning than just reading about it in a book”

Following a quick lunch stop, the children were taken to their second site of the day, the magnificent and equally devastating Tyne Cot Cemetery.

This Commonwealth War Graves site just six miles from Ypres contains 11,954 graves along with a memorial with the names of 33,783 missing soldiers.

If the pupils had been in any doubt as to the scale of the war, they were no longer.

Each school pair was instructed the previous night to research a local soldier who is buried among the endless white Portland headstones.

Eastbourne Academy pupils, Spencer Betts and Emily Burton, both 13, were sent off to find John Victor Streeter, who lived at Commercial Drive, Eastbourne, and died on April 26, 1918, the pair are pictured here after finding his record.

Born in St Leonards, he had worked as a florist in Eastbourne before enlisting.

After putting a wooden cross in the ground next to his name, Spencer said: “It is nice that we can remember someone who lived so close to us. He gave his life to protect others.”

“Just walking and seeing all the graves is quite overwhelming really. To think all these people could have had normal lives”

Emily added: “I feel we have done something important here today in remembering our local solider.”

The guides urged the youngsters to see past the names and think of the individuals, the stories, their homes, their devastated families and their fatherless children.

A sombre Charlie Grant, of Ratton School, spent many minutes walking among the headstones before deciding where to plant her cross.

The 13-year-old said: “I wanted to remember them all and lay a cross next to all the graves.”

If Tyne Cot had knocked the youngsters for six, the final visit of the day was one of the most powerful of the whole trip. Langemark German Cemetery, just a short drive from Tyne Cot, is in stark contrast to the majestic Commonwealth War Graves site.

There are no pristine white headstones or lush green lawns. Instead there are small dark plaques marking the resting places of up to 12 soldiers along with scattered grey crosses.

At the centre of the cluttered and dingy graveyard is a Kameraden Grab or comrades grave with the remains of an astonishing 25,000 soldiers buried together in an area the size of two tennis courts.

Following the war, the world laid blame for the conflict with the Germans and as a result they were given little if any land to bury their dead.

Lauren Neal, pictured above, 15, of Sir Robert Woodard Academy, said the contrast had a big impact on her.

She said: “We think this just seems a bit more disrespectful, all the bodies were just put together.”

Following dinner was the trip’s highlight, a visit to the Menin Gate and the ceremony which is held there each evening.

Since the memorial to the missing was completed in July 1928, the townspeople of Ypres have held a last post ceremony at 8pm every night.

Alex Ranson, below right, 15, from Chailey School, was also chosen to lay a wreath on behalf of the Sussex schools and described it as “very emotional”.

The second day was all about France and in particular the Somme.

Around 60,000 British troops were killed or injured on the first day of the battle – regarded as the greatest defeat the British Army has ever endured.

However, as an introductory film played on the coach on the way to the battlefields, the pupils were asked to contemplate whether the battle was such a terrible defeat.

At the Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park, which was then the allied frontline, they told how the failure had led to changes in tactics, weaponry and leadership, which would ultimately win the war.

The park, which is effectively a mass graveyard, is officially Canadian soil having been gifted by the French for the country’s losses in the battle.

From here it was on to the Thiepval Memorial which holds the names of more than 72,000 British soldiers whose bodies were never found at the Somme.

As you drive around this rural part of northern France there are cemeteries on every stretch of road.

However, it is Dartmoor Cemetery which is the penultimate stop for the day followed by the Ulster Memorial Tower which remembers the men of the Ulster Division who died at the great battle.

The tower, which was built in the 1920s, is a near replica of Helen’s Tower in County Down, – where many of the men would have trained before the war.

A family from Northern Ireland still maintain the memorial and run the attached small café and gift shop.

They take us on a tour of nearby Thiepval Wood where a series of archaeological digs have uncovered the Ulster front trench in near perfect condition.

But it is not just the trench they have unearthed but also guns, mortars, shells and a number of bodies which have since been buried in nearby cemeteries.

One thing that sets this battlefield trip aside from most others is the inclusion of the British Army.

On each trip there are three or four serving members of the forces who travel with the youngsters.

They are on hand to answer questions on the realities of soldiering which in many ways has not changed a great deal over the last century.

They also provide the last activity of the day where they compare their kit with that of a typical First World War private.

Kayleigh Murphy, right, 14, of Ratton School, said the day had made her think a lot more about the individuals involved in the fighting.

The focus of the final day is on the question of remembrance and why it is important 100 years on.

It starts with a trip to the centre of Yrpes to the In Flanders Field museum followed by a short journey to the death cells in neighbouring Poperinge.

This is where deserters and criminals were brought by the British Army to be tried and shot.

Now just the courtyard of a busy office complex, a single post surrounded by poppies marks the spot where 365 soldiers were blindfolded tied up and killed by firing squad.

One of those was 17-year-old Private Joseph Byers who went absent without leave from his trench after struggling to cope with the horrors of war. On his return he pleaded guilty and was dragged from his cell and shot at dawn.

The final stop of the trip was Lijssenthoek Cemetery where chosen members of the school party laid a wreath, main picture.

The cemetery has its fair share of stories including that of Nellie Spindler from Wakefield. The nurse was one of only two women to die at Ypres.

On behalf of the Sussex schools, Ryan Turton, 15, of the Oak Grove College, was chosen to lay a wreath before the coach made its way back to Calais.

As everyone settled down for the 90 minute coach ride to the tunnel, the youngsters sat back and reflected on the last four days.

Kate Uphus Wheatley, 14, from the Priory School, said: “Seeing all those names on the memorials and all the graves really had an impact. All of those people had lives and families and they never came home.”

Do not miss tomorrow’s Youth In Action for a First World War battlefields special. Across eight pages the 18 youngsters will tell the story of their once in a lifetime trip.