Buglers resume Last Post ceremony under Menin Gate earlier than anticipated
After a year of restoration work, the Menin Gate in Ypres brought the traditional Last Post back to its usual location earlier than anticipated. Twenty minutes before the tribute on Monday evening, the buglers from the Last Post Association were told they would be able to play under the gate again instead of next Wednesday, as originally scheduled.
The restoration work on the Menin Gate is due to continue until next year, but the inside of the gate where the Last Post is held has been mostly completed. The Last Post Association expected to resume playing under the gate next Wednesday evening, “But it already happened on Monday evening, to our own surprise,” says bugler Rik Vandekerckhove.
The buglers say it is better to perform underneath the gate for the acoustic value the space provides. “In recent months we always blew on the bridge in front of the gate in the open air,” says Vandekerckhove. “We didn't have to blow any louder there, but the Last Post does sound more muffled outside. The sound reverberates under the gate and that creates special sounds."
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On Monday, in addition to the Last Post Association, buglers from Washington DC were present as guests and played the American version of the Last Post, Taps.
The Last Post is played in honour of the memory of the soldiers of the former British Empire and its allies who died in the Ypres Salient during the First World War (1914-1918). The Last Post Association plays every evening at 20:00 while police stop traffic from passing under the gate.
#FlandersNewsService | Buglers play the Last Post under Menin Gate in Ypres © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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