November 11th 1993. Seventy five years earlier the Great War officially came to an end on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918. In 1993 this anniversarty was commemorated in the Flemish town of Ieper, or Ypres as it was known by the British who defended and held the place throughout World War One.
On that day in 1993 I drove 100 miles to Ieper to witness the celebrations in person. When I arrived there the place was transformed in an English country town. The dominant language your heard in the streets was English with all the visitors that had come over from 'Blighty'.
I had my VHS camcorder with me and despite the rigorous restrictions imposed on visiting individuals without the proper credentials, I succeeded in shooting some footage during and after the official commemoration. The result is very modest: 8 minutes of footage worth showing. The aim was only to capture an impression of that memorable day that would be continued 25 years later in 2018, also in Ypres, but without the few veterans who were still alive in 1993. Then in 2018 the centenary of the armistice was commemorated.
