Visit Flanders Fields Offers Insights Into Canada’s WWI Sacrifices in Belgium & France

In the living room of my childhood home there was a World War I artillery shell that had been recovered, chromed, and made into – as the engraving on the side read – “A Souvenir of the Great War.”

Looking back, it’s bizarre that “The Great War” was how that terrible conflict was memorialized. There were 30 million military casualties and more than 8 million civilian deaths from military causes during five awful years. 

While WWI ended more than a century ago, and WWII more than 80 years ago, there are still many Canadians with close ties to both those conflicts. My father fought in World War II as a U.S. Marine, and his father was a Canadian soldier in World War I, where he was shot and ingested mustard gas, one of the world’s first chemical weapons.

My grandfather, Edward (Ted) Parkinson, along with close to 20,000 other Canadians, fought in the Second Battle of Ypres. The ferocious fight marked Canada’s first major engagement of the First World War, where they held the line against the first large-scale poison gas attacks, suffering over 6,000 casualties.

Most of our World War veterans are gone now, but there remains strong interest among family members about the places and circumstances in which they served with such distinction.

I have visited the D-Day sites in Normandy, and while not having a direct antecedent who fought there, I found them incredibly moving and beautifully memorialized. Visiting was a reminder that while any war represents a failure of humanity, those who were required to serve did so with great bravery.

I’d like to know more about my grandfather’s experience at Ypres. While I only knew him until my early teens, I have very fond memories. He was a jolly man with an ever-present smile, a cane from his leg wound at Ypres and a pipe always held firmly within his dentures – he lost his teeth young, partly from complications of the poison gas.

So I was pleased to receive a press release about Niels Declercq, a tour guide and historian who operates Visit Flanders Fields. 

Declercq is a tour guide and historian who specializes in tours of Flanders Fields – the common English name for the World War I battlefields in Belgium. It is also, of course, the name of a famed poem written by a Canadian soldier who fought there.

On his tours, Declercq guides people through the battlefields and trenches and explains the sacrifices foreigners made to save Europe. The tours depart from Bruges and Ypres and tell the stories of soldiers from multiple perspectives.  

Visitors explore the Ypres Salient landscapes, see the battlefield trenches, learn about military tactics, the mistakes that were made and the human cost of war. Tours can be researched and personalized for people seeking to know more about family or regimental histories.

“I’ve been fascinated by the stories of World War I for as long as I can remember,” said Declercq. “Growing up in Belgium, just a stone’s throw away from the historic Ypres Salient, I was surrounded by reminders of the past — silent witnesses to one of the most devastating conflicts in human history. 

“From an early age, I felt a deep connection to the stories of the soldiers who fought here, the civilians who endured immense hardship, and the lasting impact the war left on this land. As I grew older, my fascination deepened into a personal mission — to ensure these stories are not forgotten.” 

As it happens, I will be in Bruges in a couple of weeks during the TMP On the River cruise. I’m hoping to use that time to learn more about the place where my grandfather fought and was wounded.  

If you have clients seeking to learn more about the experiences of their family members in the Ypres Salient region, Declercq’s tours appear to be an excellent choice.

“My aim is to make your Flanders Fields tour something you’ll carry with you long after you’ve left,” Declercq said. “I want your experience to be both educational and deeply moving, and leave you with a true understanding of the impact WW1 had on this region and the world.”