Menin Gate exit simply cut through the remains of the ramparts and crossed a moat. The gateway was by this time known as the Menenpoort, or Menin Gate in English, because the road leading through the gateway led to the small town of Menen. Ypres occupied a strategic position during the First World War because it stood in the path of Germany's planned sweep across the rest of Belgium, as had been called for in the Schlieffen Plan. By October 1914, the much battered Belgian Army broke the dykes on the Yser River to the north of the City to keep the
West Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II West Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II The West Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II is a monument dedicated to missing soldiers, sailors, marines, coast guardsmen, and airmen of World War II. It is a curved wall of California granite set in a grove of Monterey pine and cypress and overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It bears the name, rank, organization and State of each of the 413 members of the Armed Forces who lost their lives or were buried at sea in the Pacific coastal waters. It is located on high ground overlooking Baker