tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post4233871515057791818..comments2024-02-05T09:17:53.322-08:00Comments on Adrian Barlow's blog: Close reading: war memorialsAdrian Barlowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04526714501872493961noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-63409776063908831052012-11-18T12:11:14.221-08:002012-11-18T12:11:14.221-08:00Peter, some memorials of the kind you are asking a...Peter, some memorials of the kind you are asking about do exist. I have been in Birmingham this afternoon and have seen outside the Church of St. Martin in the Bullring, the memorial to the 2441 citizens killed in the 77 air raids on the city between 1940 and 1943. Each victim is recorded by name on this memorial. And outside the Hall of Memory in Centenary Square is a memorial depicted a bereaved WW1 fiancee placing a wreath in memory of her dead husband-to-be. In Jena (former East Germany) I have seen a memorial to the victims of the allied bombing raids on the city, and at Langemark (Belgium) there is a very moving group statue depicting relatives of the dead German soldiers hesitating to enter the cemetery. Sometimes there are visual references to the families and the wounded depicted on friezes around the base of a larger memorial - as at Wellington, New Zealand, for instance. But the question you ask, ‘Just who is being remembered on Remembrance Day?' is an important one that needs to be asked of every memorial we try to read.Adrian Barlowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04526714501872493961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-8061681361767617012012-11-18T05:54:47.409-08:002012-11-18T05:54:47.409-08:00Adrian — The Great War memorial in Exeter is clear...Adrian — The Great War memorial in Exeter is clearly extraordinarily complex. I could not have begun to read it as you have, and I wonder: how many people at — and subsequent to — its unveiling understood its intentions? In a sense I feel that it is not elemental enough to continue to convey the truths of the experiences of warfare; and if it has to be read through symbols, then I think it is likely to become more baffling with every decade that passes. (Though of course I recognise that Exeter would hardly have thought in terms of commissioning a Kathe Kollwitz.) Perhaps the major problem with war memorials is the impossible attempt to marry bravery with the tragic reality of mud and blood on the battlefield. And where are the memorials to those who were not killed, but whose lives were shattered by severe injuries, or who were driven insane by shell shock? And where the memorial to the bereaved women and children? (Many women who lost their fiancés in both world wars never married.) There is a shocking imbalance between those who are remembered and those who are not. Just who is being remembered on Remembrance Day? My apologies if this has overrun the remit of a response! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07119180758113013415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-21142402829499813342012-11-13T13:16:47.339-08:002012-11-13T13:16:47.339-08:00I have an interesting story in relation to Le Havr...I have an interesting story in relation to Le Havre and the Great War. It will take some space. My French wife's relations on her mother's side come from Scotland. Her great-grandparents arrived in Le Havre from Glasgow the 1860s when it was becoming a modern port. He worked for Cunard as a stevedore and later set up in his own name. They had three children, two daughters and a son, all born in Le Havre. The son joined the Argylle and Southern Highlanders in 1916 through a family connection and took part in the Battle of the Somme. He was killed on 15th September that year, the day the British first used tanks. They never found his body. His name is inscribed in the Thiepval War Memorial. The 'King's Penny' is encrusted in the family grave here in Le Havre. No one knew what it was until I researched into my wife's family history. I tracked down his name in the roll of honour of the regiment in Stirling Castle. My grandfather never landed in Le Havre as he was in the Royal Marines. He missed the Battle of the Falklands because his ship was coaling in Port Stanley at the time and they missed out. They did manage to sink a German collier though. However my father believes he was sent ashore with message in Le Havre,while serving as a petty officer on a torpedo boat. He was in Dartmouth for his 22nd birthday on 5th July 1944. When he woke up on his torpedo boat on the 6th all the ships with the American soldiers on board had gone. Bless 'em all.Garry Headlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07741556616880181278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-409196590585956942012-11-13T11:54:08.082-08:002012-11-13T11:54:08.082-08:00Very interesting, Garry. My grandfather landed at ...Very interesting, Garry. My grandfather landed at Le Havre in 1917 (see my earlier post ‘Edward Thomas at Buchy’). I was struck in September this year, while in Normandy, by how often - almost invariably - the French 'poilu' is depicted on war memorials wearing an army great coat. The most striking and unusual example of this that I saw was in Saint-Lo: here the original WW1 memorial having fallen victim to the Allied bombing of the town (which the retreating German army had heavily defended), a post WW2 memorial depicts a young soldier charging forward, his great coat flying in the wind and tattered in several places where bullets and shrapnel have pierced the fabric. Is this unique? I’ve never yet seen another memorial in France like this one.Adrian Barlowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04526714501872493961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873009918100574338.post-53279294102359281842012-11-13T08:17:02.550-08:002012-11-13T08:17:02.550-08:00An extraordinary post, this, Adrian, very instruct...An extraordinary post, this, Adrian, very instructive in how to read sculptured monuments, something I must admit that I've never thought of doing. I regularly cycle past war memorials here in Normandy, there's one in every village. One very moving monument is in the churchyard of St Laurent de Brevedent near enough to the road to be noticed each time we pass it. It shows a recumbent soldier, bare-headed, leaning on an arm with an outstretched hand. He's presumably wounded, possibly dying. I led the very short Remembrance Service in the British section of the Ste Marie Cemetery in Le Havre at 9a.m. on Sunday 11th. It takes place an hour before the main ceremony in the centre. There are many Commonwealth War Graves in this section, with dates post-1918, presumably because the men died of wounds or possibly from the Spanish 'flu epidemic. Le Havre was the main port for soldiers entering France from England. There was only a small gathering of people, all of them French, but with flag-bearers and a veteran or two, from what campaign I have no idea, plus the mayor in person. The whole service was in English, of course. I had to sing 'O God our help in ages past' a capella and mostly by myself, as I also did for the National Anthem at the end. I've been doing this for the past few years and feel proud to do so. This year, however, I added my playing of The Last Post and Reveille on the cornet. This gave added dignity and solemnity to the service. It certainly aroused a few curious neighbours from the flats opposite who opened their windows to lean out and watch. Lest we forget.Garry Headlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07741556616880181278noreply@blogger.com