An art installation at Bristol Cathedral commemorates the 19,240 British soldiers killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The installation consists of 19,240 shrouded figures laid out in rows, only six inches tall but conveying the immense scale of lives lost in a single day. While Remembrance Day honors all wartime casualties, fewer veterans remain, so attention has turned to more recent conflicts. However, it is important we never forget not only the numbers who died but also that many families received no closure, as bodies were often never recovered from the battlefield.

1. Lest we forget
The grounds of Bristol Cathedral are currently host to
an amazing and horrifying installation. 19240 Shrouds
of the Somme was created by artist Rob Heard to
illustrate the appalling number of men killed on the first
day of the Battle of the Somme, 100 years ago.
19,240 figures, wrapped in shrouds are laid out in neat
rows. The figures are only six inches tall, yet there are
so many it is almost impossible to see the full work in
one look. The installation brings home the scale of the
loss – all suffered on a single day.
Armistice Day in 2016 was, as always, a moment to
remember the fallen of World Wars I and II but, as
fewer and fewer veterans of those wars remain with us,
attention has, rightly, turned to more recent conflicts.
Those who continue to offer – and sometimes give -
their lives for our freedom must be our main focus
during acts of remembrance.
However, what is so significant about the shrouded
figures and what we must never forget is not only the
numbers but that those who died never came back.
They were buried, if possible, in local cemeteries but
often just in hastily dug graves, near to the front line.
Sadly, their bodies were often never found. Indeed,
even today, WWI and WWII bodies are still being
discovered by farmers and archeologists. The families
of these boys and men were lucky just to receive a few
personal possessions and a letter. Their sacrifice was
not only to lose their sons, brothers, husbands and
fathers, but possibly never to know what happened
and, most difficult of all, never to have a funeral service
or grave.
http://www.thesomme19240.co.uk/
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