I went to Menin Gate to find the name of a fallen New Zealander who was serving with the British Army. My colleague at work, history teacher James Griffith, shared a documentary video clip, where Belgians were recovering remains of soldiers from the battlefield area around Ypres. The remains had little to identify them - a buckle from his cross belt which indicated he had to have been an officer and a medallian, that bore three initials on the back of it - "H.J.I." This was enough to identify his regiment and to identify him from the list of nine known officers from the Warwickshire Regiment in the battle - he was H.J.I. Walker. The documentary captured the phone call to the nephew of H.J.I. Walker, living in New Zealand, that his uncle's remains were now found. H.J.I. Walker is one of the 54,000 chiselled names on the wall.
Panel 8 of the Menin Gate with H.J.I. Walker
This nightly ceremony has occurred every night since 1928 (save for the four years of German occupation starting in 1940). The Last Post is played at 8PM sharp by the volunteers buglers of the Ypres Fire Brogade. There were about 400 people in attendance for this night's ceremony.
Menin Gate from the ramparts of the town wall of Ypres after the ceremony.