Dr Megan Wang (née Kelleher)

As the centenary of the Armistice fast approaches, the battlefields worldwide continue to be visited by hundreds of thousands of people. Whether they are making pilgrimages to see distant loved ones or to understand the scale of the conflict, individuals from all backgrounds make the journey to these sites and to pay their respects to the war dead. I have been privileged enough to be one of the many over the centenary years to visit such sites, which included a stint working at the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) site in the world as an intern. Over this time period, it has continued to fascinate the historian in me why people continue to visit these sites so many years after the conflict? Many of the veterans who fought in the conflicts and the individuals with loved ones from their immediate family commemorated are gone, and those who could remember the conflicts are ageing rapidly so it cannot be explained by reliving memories.

Ypres Town Cemetery Extension, Belgium

I cannot speak on behalf of others, but I thought I would share my own views on this. For me, the battlefields continue to hold a resonance for me because the warfare was so dissimilar to others that I feel it would be short-sighted to ignore the destruction caused in addition to those who have fought for their country and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Furthermore, from a familial standpoint, I want to learn about my ancestors and their history in order to better understand my own so visiting their final resting place is a major part of that process. I don’t want their memory to be forgotten in spite of the many years that have passed and I think this is something others can relate to.

I hope that the tradition of visiting these sites in order to understand the scale of war in addition to learning about individual/community histories will continue beyond the centenary as I feel that there has been an upsurge in interest into the battlefields and the stories of the men who fought in them.