Thiepval - November 11th 2008:
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The 11th November 2008 was the 90th Anniversary of the
Armistice and to mark the occasion Colin and myself travelled to
Thiepval to attend the Remembrance Service there. Click on the pictures
below for a larger image ( will open in a new window). |
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Inside the visitor centre. |
The Thiepval Memorial on an overcast and
cold November 11th morning. |
Colin and myself. |
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Close up views of the memorial and the
names craved into the panels that surround the base of the memorial. The
sheer size of the memorial - the largest war memorial in the world - can
only really be appreciated by being there. However, you can get some
idea of the scale from these photographs. |
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The ceremony was conducted by the British
Legion with the Mayor of Thiepval. |
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To mark the end of the two minute
silence, a RAF Hercules aircraft flew overhead. |
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Colin lays a cross of red poppies in
remembrance of Robert Harry Barnes, who was killed on the Somme in 1917
and whose name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial. |
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There is a small cemetery behind the
Thiepval Memorial. It contains the graves, both named and unnamed of
French, British and Commonwealth soldiers. The band is that of the
Hampshire Constabulary. |
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The grave markers of unknown 'inconnu' French
soldiers and a British soldier, known only by the regimental markings on his
uniform. |
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The gravestones of British soldiers of
all ages (some as young as seventeen) and all regiments. |
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Kings Royal Rifles |
Royal West Kent |
Royal Fusiliers |
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A J Robinson Aged 17 |
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Royal Berkshire |
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East Surreys |
Somme 1916 |
Albert |
The Thiepval Memorial is the largest of the Commonwealth Graves Commission's
memorials to the missing, standing over 45 metres high it is visible from all
around the surrounding countryside. |
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