In late August we spent the weekend exploring Eastern France. We had a specific goal in mind on this trip...to visit the sites where Tom's Grandma Sullivan's Uncle (his great great uncle?) fought and died during WWI. A huge thanks to Tom's sister Katie for doing the genealogy research and finding the details for our trip.
After arriving we drove to the city of Lille, France to meet our WWI expert guide. Lille is right on the French/Belgium border. We had passed along the research on Tom's family to our guide before our trip so that he could find all of the key places we wanted to see. We learned that Tom's great great uncle, Thomas James Philps, was a British soldier who fought with a division called the Connaught Rangers. This was a specialized division of professional fighters. He had been a part of this division for a few years fighting in Northern Africa prior to coming over into France and fighting in WWI. Sadly, Thomas was killed, likely by a sniper, shortly after beginning to fight in France. He died at the young age of 22 and was buried in a military cemetery on the site of the battlefield. We were able to visit this cemetery and even find his grave. It was an incredibly moving experience and almost surreal to imagine him fighting in the same spot we were standing, decades before...fighting for his life and his country. Wow!
Our guide took us around the area and showed us the various battle lines and other military cemeteries. We also learned that Hitler was fighting as a soldier in this exact same area at the same time as Thomas James. We got to see the German bunker where Hitler's division fought from...incredible to think of how world history would have shifted had Hitler been killed during WWI. It was also fascinating to learn about the warfare and tactics used during this war. It was the first time trench warfare was used, instead of troops lining up and charging towards each other in battle.
We were so grateful to learn more about Tom's family history and set foot on the actual sites where he stood. We now think of Thomas James often and Lille, France will always hold a place on our heart.
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| Such a beautiful and peaceful cemetery |
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| The name of the cemetery where Thomas James is buried |
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| Thomas James Philps gravestone - the Connaught Rangers symbol at the top |
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| "Their name liveth for evermore" |
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| One German grave in the cemetery...you can tell because it is pointed at the top, not rounded. The soldiers honored and buried all of the fallen, even their enemies |
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| Another military cemetery nearby |
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| A memorial to those that fought |
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| Walking out the the German bunker where Hitler fought |
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| All German bunkers have a marking to identify which division built the bunker |
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| The German bunker |
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| Up to 20 men would stay in here and use it as a base for strategy and fighting. The bunkers were typically the third line of defense -a bit removed from the frontlines |
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| One man would be required to sit in here for hours |
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| Boys will be boys - Tom checking out the bunker view from the top |
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| The bunker is literally in the middle of cornfields - it was like this during the war too |
