every soldier that had to go to important place of battle had to pass through ypres. when you say every sol jerks s -- every soldier, it's from all over the world. >> they all sent troops as you say. also from china, a labor court came here to help working on the logistics for the soldiers. not only britain brought soldiers. from the french and northern african government they did so. >> civilian forces lived behind the lines. no one had seen a black soldier, a black man. the world got open. people were kicked into the 20th century. >> does it feel right eu leaders meet here today? >> if we look at history, last 1,000 years we have seen major conflict. that to say the first and second world war were not alone. since the end of the second world war with international bodies such as the european union and predecessors, for many we have now in western europe live in peace. even if sometimes things are not going always like we want them to go, it is very important to have a european body like that. >> reporter: thank you so much. david, we're here throughout the day on bb

. >> he says ypres' soil remains full of bombs and bones to this day. he had a brush with death himself while handling a mustard gas grenade. >> at 9:00 i had 41 degrees and about 3:00 i was burning, burning. i had mustard gas. the dying suffered, they burned. >> the gravestones recalled the huge losses of life suffered by many different nations. it was here in 1915 that canadian soldier john mccrea wrote his famous point, in flanders fields poppies bloom. the blood red flower soon became an enduring symbol of the tragedy. >> the soldiers could not imagine. politicians could not imagine. military people couldn't really imagine what would happen. everybody hoped a rapid victory. as it happened in 1870, in six weeks the german stock we will beat the french and then we will beat the russians, and then it's over. it didn't happen. >> and so the rituals here continued. a somber reminder to the living of the horrors of war. >> back to the present day now and to a life-and-death issue that is splitting a country and raising some tough questions in the medical