War memorial

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The Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, United Kingdom.

A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.

Contents

Symbolism

Historic usage

For most of human history war memorials were erected to commemorate great victories. Remembering the dead was a secondary concern. Indeed in Napoleon's day the dead were shoveled into mass, unmarked graves. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris or Nelson's Column in London contain no names of those killed. By the end of the nineteenth century it was common for regiments in the British Army to erect monuments to their comrades who had died in small Imperial Wars and these memorials would list their names. By the early twentieth century some towns and cities in the United Kingdom raised the funds to commemorate the men from their communities who had fought and died in the Second Anglo-Boer War. However it was after the great losses of the First World War that commemoration took center stage and most communities erected a war memorial listing those men and women who had gone to war and not returned.

Modern usage

In modern times the main intent of war memorials is not to glorify war, but to honour those who have died. Sometimes, as in the case of the Warsaw Genuflection of Willy Brandt, they may also serve as focal points of increasing understanding between previous enemies.

Using modern technology an international project is currently archiving all post-1914 Commonwealth war graves and Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials to create a virtual memorial (see The War Graves Photographic Project for further details).

History

World War I

During the First World War, many nations saw massive devastation and loss of life. In response, most cities in the countries involved in the conflict erected memorials, and the memorials in smaller villages and towns often listed the names of each local soldier who had been killed. Massive monuments commemorating thousands of dead with no identified war grave, such as the Menin Gate at Ypres and the Thiepval memorial on the Somme, were also constructed.

World War II and later

In many cases, the World War I memorials were later extended to show the names of locals who died in the Second World War in addition. Since that time memorials to the dead in other conflicts such as the Second World War and the Vietnam War have also noted individual contributions, at least in the West.

Types

  • A war memorial can be an entire building, often containing a museum, or just a simple plaque. Many war memorials take the form of a monument or statue, and serve as a meeting place for Memorial Day services. As such, they are often found near the centre of town, or contained in a park or plaza to allow easy public access.
  • Many war memorials bear plaques listing the names of those that died in battle. Sometimes these lists can be very long. Some war memorials are dedicated to a specific battle, while others are more general in nature and bear inscriptions listing various theatres of war.
  • Many war memorials have epitaphs relating to the unit, battle or war they commemorate. For example an epitaph which adorns numerous memorials in Commonwealth countries is "The Ode" by Laurence Binyon:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
  • The Memorial Arch at the Royal Military College of Canada, which remembers ex-cadets who died on military service includes lines of Rupert Brooke's poem, The Dead:
Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead.
There are none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But dying has made us rarer gifts than gold.
  • The granite slab at the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, which is a World War II War Memorial, which remembers ex-cadets who died on military service, includes the Bible 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (King James Version) quote,
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
  • The Kohima Epitaph which is on the World War II War Memorial for the Allied fallen at the Battle of Kohima says:
When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today
  • The Memorial Flag of the Royal Military College of Canada consisted of a Union Jack on a background adorned with 1100 green maple leaves bearing name of ex-cadets who served in war. The red maple leaves in centre memorialized cadets who made the supreme sacrifice. The Memorial Stairway in the administration building is lined with paintings of ex-cadets who died on military service, which is visited by about 1,000 people each year

In cemeteries

Many cemeteries tended by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have an identical war memorial called the Cross of Sacrifice designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield that varies in height from 18 ft to 32 ft depending on the size of the cemetery. If there are one thousand or more burials, a Commonwealth cemetery will contain a Stone of Remembrance, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens with words from Ecclesiasticus: "Their name liveth for evermore"; all the Stones of Remembrance are 11 ft 6 ins long and 5 ft high with three steps leading up to them.

Arlington National Cemetery has a Canadian Cross of Sacrifice with the names of all the citizens of the USA who lost their lives fighting in the Canadian forces during the Korean War and two World Wars.

External links

General:

  • Sites of Memory (Historical markers, memorials, monuments, and cemeteries worldwide)

United Kingdom:

United States:

France:

Germany:

Ireland:

Other nations:

See Also

License

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "War memorial".

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