Americans didn't really get into the First World War until the very end, but nevertheless, we have a miniature memorial in Vierstraat (first picture). We literally stopped to take a quick picture. The trenches were surreal. They are replicas and super clean, and it was a beautiful day outside, so I didn't really feel anything. But if you can imagine, the walls and floors of the trenches were covered in mud, sometimes so thick that the men would actually drown in it, and if they were shot, the mud would swallow them and become their grave. It's no wonder "Shell Shock" developed during this war; now it's known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a serious mental illness due to the witness of terrifying events. To add to the awful living conditions, they had lice and rats littering the place, and if they were lucky, the cats and dogs would survive the battle long enough to hunt them, but that was pretty difficult with the mustard gas.
The picture on the bottom is one of the surviving, original parts of this trench. It's the entrance to an officer's quarters. Im crouched on a rock in the middle of the entrance and if you look closely, you can see there's water surrounding me... it is currently a drought in Belgium, just imagine what it would have been like on a normal rainy day in Belgium (think Seattle, Washington weather).
Sorry for such a grim post, but it was a grim subject.
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