Ypres unexploded shells still an issue...

[Jes Andersen]

A couple of years ago, a group of us did the tour of WW1 & 2 Canadian battle sites. With a local friend from St Julien, we saw lots of out of the way spots. The power poles are lattice concrete and every second pole had old shells piled in the openings. Farmers just pile them there when plowed up. Our host told us the Belgian army comes and collects them once a year for disposal. We found lots of fragments walking along side plowed fields. The stuff is everywhere. At the Ambrosia Hotel in Ypres, there are photos of piles of shells dug up when they excavated for a garage under the hotel a few years ago. The Vimy site has large areas fenced off that have not been cleared. You can see the craters in through the trees as you drive by. Lots of stuff still waiting. The staff told us that they occasionally lose a sheep grazing in the areas close to the monument to uxo detonating. Not many anymore, but still there.

Jess