OK I may have exaggerated a little, but bear with me.
I have talked in the past about the massacre at Le Paradis in Northern France and attempts to provide a permanent memorial in Norfolk to the 97 men who died on 27th May, 1940.
On the 81st anniversary of the massacre, a memorial was finally dedicated to their memory in Norwich. The memorial is in Norwich Cathedral Close and in the next bay to that of World War One Norfolk heroine Edith Cavell. It is now there in all its splendour for everyone to see.
The wording on the memorial is:
To the memory of the 97 soldiers who died in the massacre on 27th May 1940 at Le Paradis Northern France.
These soldiers were drawn from 2nd Battalion the Royal Norfolk Regiment, 1st Battalion the Royal Scots and other British expeditionary force units.
Two soldiers survived that massacre - Private Bill O'Callaghan from Dereham and Private Bert Pooley from London. I am very proud to have been able to play a part in bringing this memorial into being as a trustee of the Memorial Appeal and also a member of the Le Paradis Commemoration Group. Another member of both groups is Dennis O'Callaghan who is Bill's son.
Dennis used a cliche to explain how he felt about the memorial: "I'm over the moon." He did say that his father would feel very humble and be very touched by the memorial.
It's a very symbolic memorial as well with a smooth front but a very rough side and back. This is quite deliberate as it represents the contrasts of existence. I'm sure I will be blogging more about the memorial in the coming weeks and months.
Do give the memorial a look if you are close enough to travel to the Cathedral Close. It is just round the corner from the cathedral's west door.
To mark the siting of the memorial, we had a short service of dedication yesterday. The photographs with this blog are of the trustees around the memorial. I'm fifth from the left.
There is also a close up of the memorial. I will have more about the person responsible for turning our dream into reality in a future blog.
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Getting to the Cathedral Close was problematic. It wasn't difficult but it was confusing.
Visitors to Norwich won't be too confused by the road layout in the city centre because they know no different. But for those of us born and raised here and who have lived in and around the city for most of their lives it's getting more and more confusing.
The problem is we have seen so many changes, so many streets closed and then opened and then closed again and so many streets being two way and then one way and then two way again. It is so difficult to think about what is what at the present time and which roads would be pointless to go down because they come to a dead end.
I well remember many many years ago the New Musical Express paper listing their top ten confusing things about the UK. I believe the Norwich one way system came in at about number 10. There was also a television documentary years ago about drivers who found the city centre just too stressful to drive. They took one driver through the centre and his blood pressure went through the roof. Sometimes I know how he felt.