Alan Whicker meets the ‘merry mass of men’ returning to Ypres in 1961

In the timeline of Great War remembrance, we are often used to seeing the veterans of the conflict as frail centenarians, or through the grainy, silent lens of contemporary 1914–1918 newsreels. It is rare, and deeply moving, to encounter them in the interim – as vigorous men in their sixties and seventies, returning to the battlefields while the memory was still relatively fresh.

A clip from the BBC Archive offers exactly this perspective. Filmed in 1961 for the Tonight programme, the renowned broadcaster Alan Whicker travelled to Ypres (or “Wipers,” as the old soldiers still insisted on calling it) to document a pilgrimage of veterans returning to the Salient.

The footage captures a fascinating moment in history, sitting almost exactly halfway between the armistice and the present day. Whicker opens with his trademark sharp delivery, noting that “47 years ago… this merry mass of men [went] gaily towards Flanders.”

What follows is a series of candid, heartbreaking, and occasionally humorous interviews. These men, members of the ‘Salient Circle’, are dressed in the trilbies and raincoats typical of the early 1960s, yet their minds are cast back to the mud and blood of four decades prior.

One of the most striking moments comes from a former stretcher-bearer. When asked if returning to the graves distresses him, he admits that it affects him more now than it did at the time. He reflects with brutal honesty on the “callousness” of youth, noting that back then, the dead were simply “bodies in a blanket,” a necessary detachment that allowed them to function amidst the carnage.

Perhaps the most surreal element of the film is the arrival of a coach load of German veterans from Berlin. Less than two decades after the end of the Second World War, the film captures a genuine warmth between the former enemies. They are seen shaking hands, comparing medals, and sharing drinks in the shadow of the Cloth Hall. One British veteran even shares a dark joke with a German counterpart, identifying him as the man who “sniped me through a loophole… and I’m jolly glad I missed you.”

As they gather at the Menin Gate for the Last Post, the camera pans across faces that undoubtedly had far more to tell than this brief segment could allow. It is a tragedy that we do not know the specific names of the men featured in this reel. They were the “lucky ones” – the men who lived – and seeing them gathered together, singing Pack Up Your Troubles with a mixture of defiance and nostalgia, is a powerful reminder of the camaraderie that defined their generation.

Do you recognise any of the men in this video?

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