On
April 23 2015 the poet Rupert Brooke died aboard a French hospital
ship moored off the island of Skyros, in Tris Boukes Bay. His friends
and fellow officers buried him in a nearby olive grove where in later
years a tomb was placed on the spot of the original, provisional
grave. Brooke is also remembered on Skyros by a monument on the
square near the Archeological Museum and the Faltaits Museum, now
called Platia Brooke.
On
April 23, 2015 a Rupert Brooke Centenary Commemoration was held by
his grave, led by the reverend canon Malcolm Bradshaw, at which I had
the honour to be present as a poet from the Netherlands. During the
ceremony the British ambassador to Greece held a short address. A
guard of honour was provided by the Hellenic Airforce. Wreaths were
laid by the British ambassador, the governor of Central Greece, the
mayor of Skyros, the commanders of the Hellenic Airforce and Hellenic
Navy on Skyros, the American military attache in Greece and
representatives of various literary and cultural organisations, like
the Rupert Brooke Society.
In
the evening an exhibition on Rupert Brooke, called Rupert Brooke on Skyros: and Aegean corner of a foreign field was
opened by the British ambassador and the mayor of Skyros. It will run
until September 1 in the building of the primary school in
Skyros-town.
