Portsmouth Command Field Gun Crew

THIS BRONZE STATUE AND FIELD GUN
COMMEMORATE THOSE MEN FROM PORTSMOUTH
COMMAND WHO COMPETED IN THE ANNUAL FIELD
GUN COMPETITION AT THE ROYAL TOURNAMENT
AND TRAINED AT “ROYAL NAVAL BARRACKS”
PORTSMOUTH FROM 1947 UNTIL CESSATION OF
THE TOURNAMENT IN AUGUST 1999

THE PANELS AROUND THE PLINTH DEPICT THE
HISTORY OF FIELD GUN AND COMMEMORATE THE
BRAVERY OF THE BLUE JACKETS WHO TOOK PART IN
THE RELIEF OF LADYSMITH 1899. THE SAME COURAGE
AND COMMITMENT WAS SHOWN THROUGHOUT THE
YEARS OF THE COMMAND FIELD GUN COMPETITION
UNTIL ITS CESSATION IN 1999.

A Promise Honoured

To mark the start of the annual Armed Forces Week there was a flag raising ceremony outside the Great Hall in Winchester and the unveiling of a memorial to those that passed through Morn Hill camps during the First World War.

On Monday, June 23, proceedings began with a selection of military music at the Buttercross, High Street, by The Band & Bugles of the Rifles.

They then marched to St Maurice’s Covert where they were met by a contingent of service personnel drawn from the Royal Navy, the Army and Royal Air Force.

Together they proceeded up the High Street to the Great Hall for the ceremony and unveiling of the ‘To Honour a Promise’ memorial, which marks the centenary since the outbreak of WWI in 1914.

It sits at the base of the steps in the courtyard by the Great Hall, and throughout the ceremony was covered in a cloth made by textiles students from Peter Symonds College.

Simon Smith’s brief was not to create a standard memorial, but something to represent those who had passed through the camp. The memorial sensitively shows the kit as if it has been left on the seat- but where is the soldier now?

View on YouTube

The Royal Tank Regiment

The very first battle involving tanks took place on the Somme when approximately 30 tanks attacked German positions between the villages of Flers and Courcelette on Friday 15 September 1916. This was one of the largest battles of World War I, with more than one million casualties. At dawn on 20 November 1917 the first successful tank battle was fought at Cambrai involving some 300 Mark IV tanks. The arrival of the tank signaled the end of trench warfare and established the tank as a dominant factor of battle right up until the present day.

The design of the Royal Tank Regiment grove reflects these events with a collection of Ash trees, a tree of significance to the Regiment, some of which have been propagated from trees from the battlefield at Cambrai whilst inside the circular seat is an oak tree from Flers. On the brick plinth is a model of a Mark IV, one of the earliest tanks. In the spring the Grove bursts into colour with hundreds of daffodils planted in the pattern of tank tracks. On the flagpole flies the Regimental flag of brown, red and green signifying ‘through mud and blood to green fields beyond’.*

*From the National Memorial Arboretum Guidebook Edition 4

The Yangtze Incident Memorial

From Wiki:

The Amethyst Incident, also known as the Yangtze Incident, in 1949 involved the British Royal Navy ship HMS Amethyst being trapped on the Yangtze River for three months, during the Chinese Civil War.

About the Memorial:

The circular planting of 46 Chinese euonymus plants commemorates each life lost during the Yangtze incident in China in 1949.

A plaque alongside the memorial tells the full story of the Yangtze Incident. Inside the circle are a black polished granite monument and trees planted as a tribute to HMS Amethyst, HMS Black Swan, HMS Consort and HMS London which were the four ships involved in the incident.

The human cost in the four ships was 46 dead and 68 injured. The tree planted just outside the circle remembers the RAF Sunderland flying boat named D-DOG ML772 from 88 Squadron that, on the fourth attempt, landed successfully on the Yangtze River alongside HMS Amethyst to deliver medical supplies and a replacement doctor.*

*From the National Memorial Arboretum Guidebook Edition 4

British Nuclear Test Veterans Memorial

Now that I have finished sharing my Salisbury travels I shall return to my visit to the National Memorial Arboretum.

Formed in 1983, the Association is a focus for the men who served at the test sites and combines comradeship with the objective of recognition of the ill effects suffered by some veterans.

Beginning in 1952 and continuing until 1965 there were 21 major British nuclear tests and numerous minor tests at the sites listed on the memorial.*

The memorial (grotto) is a replica of a shell-decorated memorial situated on Christmas Island where some of the British nuclear tests took place.*

*From the National Memorial Arboretum Guidebook Edition 4

The Lion Monument

The Lion Monument is one of the Lucerne tourist attractions. The sculpture of a dying lion pierced by a spear is a monument to the Swiss Guards of Louis XVI of France:

On 10 August 1792, the guards defended the Palais des Tuileries, in Paris. When it was stormed by revolutionaries. Those who survived the attack were arrested and guillotined on the night of 2-3 September.

The Lowendenkmal, or Lion Monument was carved out of the sandstone cliff face by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorwaldsen, and it was inveiled in 1821.*

*From The Eyewitness Travel Guide to Switzerland.

Cloister Memorial

Commemorative Window

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Vision & Verb Limited Edition Holiday Cards

Newly launched in the Vision & Verb card shop is a ‘limited edition holiday cards‘ gallery.  As with the main gallery all profits from the cards sold help fund Kiva loans.

The profit from every card sold (approximately 50%) will be given back to the larger world in allotments of 50$ loans to men and women seeking to start their own businesses. The conduit for these loans is Kiva, a non-profit organisation that enables us to lend to the “working poor” around the world.

The pictures in the mosaic are thumbnails of the ones that I have chosen to include in the gallery.