Wreath laid by last British survivor of WWI trenches on display at NMA
27 July 2009
In tribute to Harry Patch, who died at the weekend at the age of 111, the wreath laid by him at the Cenotaph last Armistice Day has gone on public display at the National Memorial Arboretum.
Harry Patch, who joined the Army aged 18, fought in the Battle of Passchendaele at Ypres in 1917. The battle resulted in the deaths of more than 70,000 British soldiers.
The Arboretum, part of The Royal British Legion family, is home to several First World War memorials. Visitors can explore the Gallipoli memorial which is dedicated to the nations who took part in the 1915 Gallipoli campaign and features a sculpture of dead oak trees representing the arms of injured soldiers reaching upwards in the hope of rescue as they lie in the mud among the unburied dead. Nearby is a large glass mosaic showing a map of the theatre of war.
The Battle of the Somme, possibly the most bloody in military history, with 1.5 million casualties is remembered by the Western Front Association who have an avenue of hornbeams, propagated from the only tree in the notorious Delville Wood that survived the intense battle.
Shot at Dawn, situated at the part of the Arboretum that gets the first light, is a moving memorial featuring a central statue modelled on a 17-year old soldier who was executed at Ypres in 1915. As punishment for various offences, British and Commonwealth military command executed 306 of its own men during the First World War. Since pardoned, it is recognised that many of those shot were underage at the time of enlisting and many had suffered shell shock or post traumatic stress disorder.
For more information, please contact: Andrew Baud, The Royal British Legion, 07775 715775
