The Ypres League The Ypres League was a British World War I veterans and remembrance society . It was founded on 28 September 1920 to act as a brotherhood for veterans of the battles of the Ypres Salient , to remember those who died there , and to aid pilgrims traveling to the battlefields . It later became an incorporated society , based in London . It produced a quarterly newsletter and a guide book to Ypres , and provided a variety of services to its members , including specially designed membership certificates . It also worked to successfully erect a memorial church at Ypres . International branches were established , and the League celebrated its tenth anniversary in 1930 . Publication of its newsletter continued well into the 1930s , and branches were still active in the 1940s . Founding members . The founder of the League was a Canadian Ypres veteran , Colonel Beckles Willson . By December 1920 , King George V had agreed to become the League ' s patron . By 1925 , there were three patrons : the King , Edward , Prince of Wales and Princess Beatrice . Beatrice , the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria , was herself a mother bereaved by the fighting at Ypres , as her son , Prince Maurice of Battenberg , had been killed in action in 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres . The League ' s President , the Earl of Ypres , had been the first commander of the British Expeditionary Force during the war , and presided over one of the League ' s first committee meetings . Other officials of the League in 1925 included several who had been generals during the war : Earl Haig , Viscount Allenby , Lord Plumer , and Sir William Pulteney Pulteney . The committee also included Viscount Burnham as a representative of the Anglo - Belgian Union . Memorials and commemoration . Over a quarter of a million men from British and Dominion forces died in the Ypres battles , and one of the League ' s primary objectives was to establish a lasting memorial to those who fought in the area . In 1924 the League proposed the erection of a memorial church at Ypres . Fundraising by the League led to the building of Saint George ' s Memorial Church , Ypres , consecrated in 1929 . Other memorials established or contributed to by the League included the Demarcation Stones , a line of 118 red granite pylons marking the line of the Western Front . The League paid for seven of these markers to be erected in the Ypres area . The League also held annual commemorations on 31 October , known as Ypres Day , a date chosen to mark the turning point in the First Battle of Ypres in 1914 . One of the early commemorations of Ypres Day , on 31 October 1921 , saw a group of 800 pilgrims organised by the League travelling to Ypres . The tenth anniversary of the League was marked in 1930 by a parade that included Princess Beatrice laying a wreath at the Cenotaph . The wreath - laying at the Cenotaph by Princess Beatrice was repeated in 1935 to mark the League ' s 15th anniversary . Publications and services . The League ' s publications included a quarterly newsletter , " The Ypres Times " ( first published in October 1921 , and still being published as late as 1938 ) , and books such as " The Immortal Salient " ( 1925 ) , a historical record of the battles and a guide for pilgrims to Ypres . An account of the horror of the conditions on the Ypres Salient , written by the war correspondent Philip Gibbs , was used for the League ' s information leaflets . Planned publications included the " Ypres Book of Valour " . The League also had a marching song , called " Tramping along to a little tin whistle and an old toy drum " , a version of which was published in 1926 . Other services offered by the League included framed certificates of membership for veterans of the conflict and bereaved relatives of the dead . The scroll certificates , designed by Bernard Partridge , were intended as a memorial of honour . The League , together with the St Barnabas Society , also established and maintained a Pilgrimage Centre and rest room at Ypres , and raised funds to help bereaved and impoverished relatives of dead soldiers to visit Ypres and the surrounding battlefields . The League also worked with the Imperial War Graves Commission to compile registers of those buried or lost in the Salient , and to establish historical records and information for pilgrims and its members . Membership of the League was offered on either a life or annual basis , with reduced and junior fees also available . International branches . In the early 1920s , the news of the founding of the League , and the intention to establish branches overseas , appeared in newspapers in Dominion countries whose forces had served in the Salient , including Australia , New Zealand and Canada . This led to the founding of several international branches of the League , but the US branch would not be established until a decade later . In March 1931 , the League ' s representative in the USA presented the Ypres Medal to officers of the 27th Infantry Division that had participated at the Fourth Battle of Ypres . This was the first time the award had been presented to Americans , and the US branch of the League was launched a few days later at a dinner in New York that was attended by 500 people .