Belgians commemorate 90th anniversary of the end of WWI

IEPER / BRUSSELS – Thousands upon thousands recently converged on the Belgian town of Ypres (Ieper) to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the end of WWI hostilities. Officials laid wreaths at the town’s Menenpoort, which was built in 1927, and lists tens of thousands of names of British and Irish casualties whose remains were never recovered during or after the horrific war. Flemish premier Kris Peeters urged that an international task force be struck to prepare for the centennial of the war which was hoped to have ended all wars. Belgian Crown Prince Filip laid a wreath at the foot of the Congress column in Brussels, near the resting place of the unknown soldier. In Belgium, fierce battles were fought during World War I, forcing about one million Belgian citizens to flee to the Netherlands as the German army approached Antwerp in the Fall of 1914. Other Belgians fled to the safety of England or crossed into France.