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| Alexander Gilespie, right, with brother Thomas |
Churned mud of no-man’s land stretched before him, the bodies of the fallen slumped in cavernous shell holes. There can have been no doubt Alexander Douglas Gillespie knew he was trapped at the heart of war and in the bowels of hell.
The 26-year-old second lieutenant had already lost his younger brother, Thomas, his body to remain forever lost, buried where it fell.
Yet in June 1915, just three months before his own death, Alexander wrote with extraordinary vision to his old head-master about a remembrance project he wanted to create in the trenches once the war ended.
The nature-lover explained his dream, a no-man’s land transformed into a Via Sacra – a sacred pathway – tree lined and beautiful for all to walk and enjoy.
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| Countryfile presenter Tom Heap with book on great-uncle |
Now, 100 years after the armistice that halted the First World War, there are calls for Alexander’s dream to become reality.
And nobody is more dedicated to the vision than his great-nephew Tom Heap, who inherited his passion for nature and now presents BBC1’s Countryfile.
The Western Front Way charity is campaigning for British, French and Belgian government approval for a joint project to create Alexander’ s “most beautiful road”.
The 450-mile walkway would stretch from the Belgian coast at Nieuwpoort to the Swiss border near Basel and would honour the 3.3million men – Allied and German – killed on the Western Front.
In his letter, Alexander said: “These fields are sacred in a sense and I wish that when the peace comes, our government might combine with the French government to make one long avenue from the Vosges to the sea.
“The ground is so pitted and scarred and torn with shells and tangled with wire that it will take years to bring it back to use again.
“But it would make a fine broad road in the No Man’s Land between the lines, with paths for pilgrims on foot and plant trees for shade, and fruit trees, so the soil should not be altogether waste.
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| Alexander dreamed of 'a beautiful road |
“Then I would like to send every man, woman and child in Western Europe on a pilgrimage along that Via Sacra so that they might think and learn what war means from the silent witnesses on either side.
“A sentimental idea, perhaps, but we might make it the most beautiful road in all the world.”
Alexander’s great-nephew Tom clutches the precious letters as we speak.
He has returned to the place near La Bassee, Northern France, where both his great uncles are thought to lie.
The 52-year-old, who has trekked 30 miles of the route, says: “Walking there, that feeling he wasted his life came through so strongly.”
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| Alexander was killed in the Battle of Loos in 1915 |
Alexander was to die in the Battle of Loos. On September 25, 1915, he led a charge near La Bassee. In the face of heavy fire, he was the only officer to reach the German trenches. But then he fell. It was British gas, blown back on our own troops thanks to misjudged weather, that was to kill him.
His vision, Tom says, must not die with him.
He adds: “If he was disabled by our own gas blowing back... callous inadequacy ... that feeling really comes home.
“But if this path came to be, that would help to redeem that waste if something he felt that strongly about came into being.
“We would feel he had given his life for something.”
For Tom’s mother, Peggy Heap, 84, the idea is a beacon to emerge from their family tragedy.
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| Letter in which Alexander reveals his dream |
Her mother, Margaret, was incredibly close to the brother she nicknamed ‘Bey’. His death, alongside that of Thomas, was “absolutely devastating”. She says: “I feel, as Alexander said, we should not forget what was given in that great war.
“For future generations this would be an act of remembrance, people could be reminded of the awfulness of war. But they would also benefit physically by walking.
“They could enjoy the landscape, feel there was good in the world. Let’s not be overcome by the horror but make the world a better place.
“It would be a place to meet people, internationally, to walk together, side by side.”
The Western Front Way, led by founding trustee, historian and author Sir Anthony Seldon, alongside Alexander’s family, has instigated positive conversations with French and Belgian officials.
An exact route has not been formalised but it is hoped to take in museums and memorials along the way, creating the largest single commemorative project to mark the centenary.
Alexander grew up in Scotland and studied at the Bar before he was given a commission with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
But he was not sent to the Front until February 1915.
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| Letter features in book about Alexander |
By then, brother Thomas, an athlete who rowed in the 1912 Olympics, was already dead, falling in October 1914 near La Bassee.
Alexander must have been devastated but Tom says he remained stoic, the culture at the time not allowing for overt grief.
He adds: “Alexander talks of Tom as an inspiration to fight. He writes that Thomas will be here to help him.”
Although his letters speak of the violence of war, Alexander’s inextinguishable optimism is clear. And he finds special comfort in nature. He wrote: “We have glorious sunny days too when hardly a shot was fired for hours and the corn and long grass seemed to grow while you watched it in the space between the lines.
“In May the fruit blossom was beautiful where our trenches ran through an orchard.”
It is this beauty that his family is determined will return to no-man’s land... in honour of those who, 100 years later, lie beneath its soil.
