Synopsis: Remembering the 19240 Allied servicemen who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago.
This is some of the 19,240 figurines laid in Northernhay Gardens to commemorate the fallen on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
I happened to be in Exeter today. I was aware that it was the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, but had not known of this event being staged in Northernhay Gardens. I was glad I stumbled upon it. It was humbling in the extreme.
Each figure represents an individual soldier who died on that first day of the battle. More than a million soldiers were to die in this battle before its end. The mass of figurines laid out like this brought home with real weight the scale of the loss. Numerous people viewing this scene were brought to tears. I was racked by this representation of the enormity of the cost in human life on that day one hundred years ago.
For me, it brought to mind those words of Jo Cox MP so recently taken from us, when she urged people to focus on “that which unites us not which divides us”.
Battle of the Somme: First day's dead marked with 19,240 figurines – BBC News (01/07/2016)
