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Return of statue of Our Lady of Lourdes - Ieper - 31/03/2011
Op donderdag 31 maart 2011 kwam Richard Chapman naar de Sint-Maarten Sint-Niklaaskathedraal van Ieper, om aan de leden van de kerkraad een mariabeeldje te overhandigen dat volgens de overlevering binnen de familie in 1917 door Major William McCormack (de overgrootvader van Richard Chapman) werd gered uit de puinen in Ieper.
RETURN OF STATUE OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES FOUND DURING THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES IN 1917
During the first world war, Major William Thomas Bartholomew McCormack, a civil engineer by occupation, was an officer of the 10th Field Company Engineers, part of the Australian Expeditionary Forces. He enlisted for duty on 08 January 1915 and embarked from Melbourne to the war in Europe on board the HMAT A54 Runic on 20 June 1916. His embarkation roll number was 14/29/1.
During his tour of duty, Major McCormack was involved in the 3rd battle of Ieper/Ypres in late
1917. Ieper/Ypres was heavily bombarded and very little was left standing.
Amid the ruins of a church, the story as passed down is that a soldier in William McCormack’s regiment found a small statue intact of Our Lady of Lourdes (see photo). Knowing that his commanding officer was a Catholic, the soldier brought the statue to him. Major McCormack wrapped the statue in a sock, stuffed it in his kitbag and at some later date posted it back to his family home in Melbourne, Australia.
Major McCormack was mentioned in despatches and received the Croix de l’Armee medal (France), the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He returned to Australia on 28 February 1919 and died there in 1937. There is an entry for William Thomas Bartholomew McCormack in the Australian Dictionary of National Biography.
The statue from the Ypres battlefield remained with Major McCormack’s wife and daughter in Melbourne, Australia for the next 80 years or so until the family home there was finally dispersed. The statue was brought to London, UK in the late 1990s by Major McCormack’s grandson, Geoffrey Robison Chapman (1930-2010) with the intention of returning the statue to its place of origin. Geoffrey Chapman died in May 2010 before he was able to do this. Before his death, he expressed the wish that the statue would be returned.
The family is most grateful to Fr Raymond Rossignol and Fr Lucien Legrand for their help in putting us in touch with the diocesan office of the Cathedral of St-Maarten en St-Niklaas in Ypres, and for the support of Michel Deforche, Chairman of the Council in making arrangements for its return. The statue was returned to Ypres by Major McCormack’s great grandson Richard Chapman1 on 31 March 2011.
Het uitpakken van het beeldje door Richard Chapman en Michel Deforche (voorzitter kerkraad).
Van links naar rechts: Toon Breyne (secretaris kerkraad), Richard Chapman, Michel Deforche (voorzitter kerkraad), Alexander Declercq (lid kerkraad)
Michel Deforche en Roland Meulebrouck tonen het beeld
Richard Chapman bij het beeldje, dat voorlopig veilig staat opgesteld in het hoogkoor van de kathedraal, zichtbaar voor elke bezoeker!
Pagina aangemaakt door Alexander Declercq.
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