The Welsh National Memorial Park commemorates all the men and women of Wales who were involved in World War I. The memorial was erected in the area where the 38th Welsh Division launched the battle of Passchendaele on 31 July '17. On that day, close to this place, the poet Hedd Wyn felt.
Until the outbreak of World War I, Wales' attitude towards the armed forces was ambivalent. Among other things, the strong syndicalism in the mining areas was no stranger to this. Welsh regiments sometimes struggled to keep up their ranks during that pre-war period. The Welsh politician Lloyd George, later Prime Minister of Great Britain, started his career as a notorious pacifist. However, this attitude would change completely at the outbreak of the war. From a strong solidarity with "Poor little Belgium", that other small nation, a rush on recruitment offices arose in many Welsh areas. Young people left every village and town for the front. Wales would pay a heavy price for that involvement.
Although the Western front remained the most important, the Welshmen fought almost everywhere. The war industry in Wales, where mainly girls and women worked, was in full swing.
The memorial park, however, transcends the background of the fighting in Flanders. As "Welsh National Memorial" it commemorates the efforts of the entire Welsh population during the Great War.
The monument, in the form of a dragon, the national Welsh symbol, was erected in 2014 and was the result of a Flemish-Welshe volunteer campaign, supported by the municipality of Langemark- Poelkapelle and the Welsh government.