REMEMBRANCE

OF

THE FIRST WORLD WAR

POPPIES AT THE TOWER

NOVEMBER 2014

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PAGE FOUR: PHOTOGRAPHS

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

Poppies at The Tower of London, July-November 2014

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A SEA OF RED

The Tower, The Moat & The Poppies from the air

Click here to see The Poppies from the air

I am ashamed to say that I had not heard about the Ceramic Poppies in The Moat of The Tower of London until I arrived in London in early November 2014.

I live in the U.S. now and I do not remember any mention of the Poppies on The News. Unfortunately, such an oversight is not unusual since those responsible for producing News programming here do not seem to pay too much attention to what is going on around the world unless it has a direct bearing on American policy or of interest to them. Fortunately of late, National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) have entered into an agreement with the BBC to allow its News coverage to be heard and shown here. And of course, now BBC Radio is available on the Internet, but sadly not via iPlayer. In spite of this, I still managed not to hear of the Poppies!

Anyway ………. when I arrived in London, the place was abuzz with talk about the Poppies. I was asked often if I had seen them. When I said that I hadn’t, I was told that I needed to go as soon as possible!

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I had been brought up to be respectful of the memory of the fallen of the Wars and each year I was encouraged to wear a Poppy on my lapel as a reminder. Every Remembrance Sunday, I stood in silence for two minutes with my parents and later in the day visited Whitehall to view the wreaths of Poppies and flowers lain at the foot of The Cenotaph.

My father had been called up in 1939 and joined the Army. He was part of the D-Day Invasion along with thousands of others, and with some of them, made his way into France, Belgium, The Netherlands and finally into Germany. My mother had also been called up and worked for British Railways for the duration of the War years and was based at its Aldgate Depot.

Top Row: left, Site of Aldgate Railway Goods Depot; right, Aldgate Underground Station
Bottom Row: left, Aldgate Bus Terminus in 1952; middle, in 1958; right, in 2009

Her job required her to load boxes of various sizes and weight onto a huge cart to be pulled by two Belgian Horses. She maneuvered the horses and cart through the narrow streets of the City of London and The Docks of the Port of London.

Belgian Horses

My mother’s elder brother had joined the Army at a young age and had been sent to the Far East. He was in Malaya when the Second World War was declared and eventually spent two years in a Japanese Prison Camp. My mother’s youngest brother joined the Army at the age of 17 and was assigned to the Artillery. Tragically, he and two Canadian soldiers were killed by a sniper two days after the War had ended. My mother never quite got over her brother’s death and he remained young and vibrant like the picture of him that she treasured. Each Remembrance Sunday until she died, she along with many others, wept copious tears in memory of him and the others who had been killed.

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I have to admit that I had no idea what to expect of the Ceramic Poppies since I had not even seen a photograph of them. However, I doubt if anything could have prepared me for the spectacular sight that greeted me when I arrived at The Tower. However, one thing is certain, nothing could have prepared me for the the moving experience that it proved to be.

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Click here to watch hear about the Project see the Poppies being installed

Click here to appreciate the full impact of the Ceramic Poppies

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POPPIES AT THE TOWER

As I said in the Introduction …….

Between July and November 2014, 888,246 ceramic poppies were planted in The Moat of The Tower of London. The placing of poppies here is an example of Installation Art with the title of Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, which is the first line of a poem by an unknown soldier who fought in the First World War (and not to be confused with the more famous poem by Lt. Col. John McCrae, In Flanders Fields). Each poppy represents a British or Colonial serviceman who was killed during the War and is the work of the artist, Paul Cummins, with setting by the stage designer, Tom Piper.

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The final Poppy was placed in The Moat by an Army Cadet Harry Hayes, aged 13, on Armistice Day, the 11th November, 2014.

Click here to watch this event

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What follows are some of the photographs that I took during my visit to The Tower of London in November 2014. I don’t think any further words are necessary to describe their impact, do you?

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The Ceramic Poppies were put on sale for £25 each with all net proceeds plus 10% of each sale being shared between six Armed Services‘ charities including The Royal British Legion.

The Weeping Window and the Wave segments of the display will be removed lastly and will eventually be installed as permanent exhibits at The Imperial War Museums at London and Manchester.

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