New WWI memorial unveiled to remember lost heroes
BBCThe Princess Royal has unveiled a new memorial at Brookwood Military Cemetery to commemorate more than 400 forgotten World War One casualties from the UK and Ireland.
The addition to the 37-acre site, near Woking, honours those who died after returning home from the conflict whose graves were never formally identified nor their stories properly heard.
The work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), the Brookwood 1914-1918 memorial was revealed by its president, Princess Anne, at a ceremony on Tuesday.
She said it marks "a profound new chapter in our shared remembrance of those names lost in the archival shadows".
"Today we gather in a place where history is not simply remembered, but where there is an enduring promise that none who served will be forgotten," said the princess.
She called the new memorial "a physical realisation of that promise" to collectively remember "the soldiers who died of wounds far from the battlefield" or "succumbed to illness while still in service", along with those who "lost their lives in training accidents or were discharged as unfit, only to later die in the care of their families".
"At the CWGC we often say that our work is never done, and this memorial is proof of that truth," she added.
The sprawling memorial features 31 large stone slabs arranged to mirror the formation of the brightest visible stars in the sky when the Armistice was signed in the early hours of 11 November 1918.
Claire Horton, director general of CWGC, said it also contained room for 1,200 more names.
"It's incredible to think that after all these years we are still finding people to commemorate," she said.
"But this memorial in not only important to the descendants of those lost, it is also makes sure that everyone else can learn from history about the huge human cost of going to war."
Designed by the London-based Studio Wignall & Moore, the memorial's "naturalistic, ever-evolving" layout is also complemented by more than 400 new trees which have been planted around it at Brookwood.
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