Hull MP pays respects to those who fell on the Western Front

As the centenery of the outbreak of World War One nears, Hull North MP Diana Johnson visited Passchendaele, Belgium, to pay her respects at the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves and Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient campaign on the Western Front.


The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by Britain and the Commonwealth in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the 1914-1918 War. Tyne Cot is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war, with 11,956 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated at the site.


The name "Tyne Cot" is said to come from the Northumberland Fusiliers seeing a resemblance between the German concrete pill boxes, which still stand in the middle of the cemetery, and typical Tyneside workers' cottages Tyne Cots. For more information, see http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/53300/TYNE%20COT%20CEMETERY.