Luck, really, and good observation. Noticing this Royal British Legion sign as I was leaving Tidworth, I hastily decided to pull in and take a quick photo.
Which was when I noticed, easily missed from the road,…
…this wonderful little memorial.
I gather, from a nice couple who, should they ever visit this site, will notice themselves in some of these pictures, that the memorial was commissioned in the late 1990s by the Legion as the town itself had no war memorial.
In October 2012, the bronze statue (note that he bears no arms, just a kitbag) was stolen, and I believe parts were subsequently found on Salisbury Plain. Luckily the sculptor still had the original mould, and with the help of an insurance payout, a new cast was made, and the figure you see in these photos now stands atop the plinth.
Just down the road:
Thanks for these photos and commentary. I noticed the
memorial as we stopped in traffic. The kit bag
and absence of weapons reminded me of the
memorial on platform 1 at Paddington Stn. A
moving statue of a soldier reading a letter from
home. I wondered if the Tidworth one was by
the same sculptor – Charles Sergeant Jagger.
No, but a similar idea. Regards.
Interesting, Mike. It’s a really nice little memorial, and I know the one you mean at Paddington – I shall photograph it next time I’m there. If you’re interested, put Tidworth into the Search box and you’ll find a couple of other posts, in particular a detailed tour of Tidworth Military Cemetery, which I have since managed to visit.