Ypres [Belgium]

Ypres (Dutch: Leper) is a small city in the very western part of Belgium, the so-called Westhoek in the province of West Flanders. Though the Flemish leper, probably named after the river leperlee on the banks of which it was founded is the official name, the city's French name Ypres is most commonly used in English. Ypres these days has the title of "City of Peace".

During the First World War, Ypres (or "Wipers" as it was commonly known by the British troops) was the centre of the Battles of Ypres between German and Allied forces. The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing commemorates those soldiers of the British Commonwealth who fell in the Ypres Salient during the First World War before 16 August 1917 and who have no known grave. United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot.