Student Reflection: Samantha Trafford, Simpson Prize Winner 2018

"While I was in Belgium I had the chance to visit the grave of my great-great-uncle, killed in Ypres in 1917."

Recently I had the opportunity to travel to the Western Front during the school holidays on a commemorative tour for World War 1. I was given this great privilege through my entering and winning of the Simpson Prize, a national competition for Year 9 and 10 students, designed to explore the significance of the first world war for Australia and Australians both past and present.

The group, composed of myself and seven other students, two teacher chaperones, and a historian from the Australian War Memorial, were able to visit many memorials and educational sites in England, France, and Belgium. Because of this, I learnt many things and was able to expand on my pre-existing knowledge in ways that can only be achieved through visiting the Western Front. For example, being able to visit some of the battlefields where troops actually fought and see the sheer destruction inflicted on the landscape still be present today or visit farmland where bullets and shell fragmentation from 100 years ago so casually sit on the side of fields was surreal. Visiting the cemeteries and seeing hundreds of headstones lined up in endless rows was not only an extremely memorable experience, but also an incredibly valuable one as it allowed for me to gain a better understanding of both the deaths that occurred and the stories behind them as well as the effort put into remembering and identifying those buried. Small details such as finding the button of a coat or the engraved initials of a soldier on a watch could become the difference between having an identified grave or not, impacting the families of the soldiers for generations to come. Unfortunately, not all soldiers had a grave, and so memorial structures such as the Menin Gate have been created, the names of the soldiers whose bodies could not be found engraved in the walls. During the trip we also went to many sites and memorials for Australians who fought in battles that are not as commemorated here in Australia, it being important to remember those who fought in all battles and pay respect to those who were involved in even the smallest military ventures. 

Throughout the trip our group also got to hear the stories of just a few of the soldiers that fought in the locations that we visited, adding another more personal perspective when looking at the battlefields from so long ago, encouraging us to think and reflect on the lives of the soldiers who so bravely fought and died where acres of green farmland now reside. 

We were also lucky enough to participate in a platoon experience, eating, marching, and wearing the equipment and clothes of a World War 1 soldier on the Western Front. The program only lasted for a few hours, however by the time it was over everyone in the group had a much better understanding of the struggles soldiers would have faced, having experienced some of them ourselves. Granted, we definitely still had an easier time both physically and mentally, only walking a minor fraction of the distance that would have been covered daily and doing the activities with the knowledge that whatever troubles we faced would be over in a couple hours’ time, a luxury that no one in the war would have had. 

Our group also got to attend a Dawn Service on ANZAC day, and it was a ceremony that I will never forget. Although bitterly freezing, the service was incredible, and it was heart-warming to see how many people had travelled from Australia and other countries to remember those who fought. 

While I was in Belgium I had the chance to visit the grave of my great-great-uncle, killed in Ypres in 1917. He was hit in the head by shrapnel from a detonated shell, dying instantly while writing a letter to his sister back home in New Zealand. He served at both Gallipoli and the Western Front after a brief training period in Egypt and was a Lance Corporal. Seeing his grave was an odd moment, as it was rather confronting for me to see my last name on the gravestone of someone buried so long ago, and to think of the hardships that he must have endured. 

Overall, attending the trip was an extraordinary experience. It allowed for me to gain a deeper insight into World War 1. While you can learn many things in the classroom, being able to visit some of the cemeteries and see graves stretching all the way to the horizon is truly something else entirely. 

 

Samantha Trafford

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