Editing Ypres (section)

===War memory and memorial===
On 12 February 1920, [[King George V]] awarded the [[Military Cross]] to the City of Ypres, one of only two awards of this decoration to a municipality during World War I, the other being to [[Verdun]].<ref>Abbott, Peter Edward; Tamplin (1981). British Gallantry Awards (2nd ed.). London, UK: Nimrod Dix and Co.; {{ISBN|9780902633742}}, p. 221</ref> In May 1920 [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|Field Marshal French]] presented the Cross in a special ceremony in the city,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205178222 |title=Award of Military Cross to City of Ypres, Imperial War Museum Accessed: 8 November 2018 |access-date=7 November 2018 |archive-date=7 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107224850/https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205178222 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 1925 it was added to the city's coat of arms, along with the French {{lang|fr|[[Croix de Guerre]]}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Ieper |title=Heraldry of the world: Iper. Accessed: 8 November 2018 |access-date=30 May 2012 |archive-date=9 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609104311/http://www.ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Ieper |url-status=live }}</ref>

Historian [[Mark Connelly]] states that in the 1920s, British veterans set up the Ypres League and made the city the symbol of all that they believed Britain was fighting for and gave it a holy aura in their minds. The Ypres League sought to transform the horrors of trench warfare into a spiritual quest in which British and imperial troops were purified by their sacrifice. In 1920, [[Henry Beckles Willson|Lieutenant-Colonel Beckles Willson]]'s guide book, ''The Holy Ground of British Arms'' captured the mood of the Ypres League:
<blockquote>There is not a single half-acre in Ypres that is not sacred. There is not a single stone which has not sheltered scores of loyal young hearts, whose one impulse and desire was to fight and, if need be, to die for England. Their blood has drenched its cloisters and its cellars, but if never a drop had been spilt, if never a life had been lost in defence of Ypres still would Ypres have been hallowed, if only for the hopes and the courage it has inspired and the scenes of valour and sacrifice it has witnessed.<ref>Mark Connelly, "The Ypres League and the Commemoration of the Ypres Salient, 1914–1940", ''War in History'' (2009) 16#1 pp. 51–76, quote p. 55</ref></blockquote>

Ypres became a pilgrimage destination for Britons to imagine and share the sufferings of their men and gain a spiritual benefit.<ref>Connelly, "The Ypres League and the Commemoration of the Ypres Salient, 1914–1940", pp. 51–76</ref>

After the war, [[Winston Churchill]] proposed to leave Ypres as a mausoleum, with the rightful owners to be deprived from regaining their land. By early March 1919, the Belgian scheme was to leave the Cathedral and Cloth Hall and the buildings around them in ruins.{{sfn|van Emden|2019|pp=173, 176}} By November 1919, the Belgian government was seriously considering two schemes, both of which would have kept the Cloth Hall and the Cathedral in ruins, but one scheme would allow rebuilding houses around the Grand Place, whereas the other would have created a belt of trees surrounding the Hall and Cathedral.{{sfn|van Emden|2019|p=178}} By early September 1920, the decision had been made by the British Government that the [[Menin Gate]] and its immediate surroundings would be used as a memorial,{{sfn|van Emden|2019|p=180}} by which time, the Belgians had already begun to rebuild the area.{{sfn|van Emden|2019|p=181}}

In the 100th anniversary period more attempts were being made to preserve the First World War heritage in and around Ypres.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Western Front {{!}} Kingston upon Hull War Memorial 1914-1918 |url=https://ww1hull.com/the-western-front/ |access-date=21 August 2022}}</ref>