Joe
When War Memorials Crumble?
August 31, 2010 12:00 AM
You only need to drive around Britain to understand the tragedy of the First World War, ‘The Great War’. It seems that every little town and community has a memorial to the young men who went off to war and never returned. But what happens, some ninety years later, when these memorials begin crumble or rot away?
The question has recently come up here in Oxford for a little memorial that sits by a church. The memorial lists the names of 47 men who lost their lives in the war. Twenty-one of those men have no graves, and this memorial serves as their only remembrance. However, dry rot and insects have left the structure in danger of imminent collapse.
So what to do? As you might expect, a War Memorial Appeal has been set up, but despite the best efforts of those behind it, it has still come up several thousand pounds short of the money needed to fix it.
We could let it crumble, and spend the money on the living. It's a fair argument; there are plenty of people in need today. And yet, it doesn't feel right...
Now, I am not from Oxfordshire. I’m not even from Britain, but I believe strongly that all men who died in that great and tragic war deserve to be remembered. I have sent a small donation. Will anyone join me?
Read the full article from the Oxford Mail
COMMENTS
£ 20.000?!?!? That's crazy. What are they going to do, rebuild it in solid gold?
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It may interest people to know that there is a World War I memorial that is almost totalled ignored honoring the fallen for the 1914 - 1919 war at the corner of Angel & Waterman Ave in Smithfield RI USA; during the war, the area was home to large numbers of English immigrants including my mother's parents; today sadly no one knows how these men were or why they died. ron nass
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