ElizabethHerts
10-11-17, 08:11
BBC Breakfast mentioned this project this morning.
http://shroudsofthesomme.com/
They want the general public to research the men who fell.
"From today, 10th November, Shrouds of the Somme will ‘Ask the Nation’ to search their family archives for pictures and details of those who died during the Battle of the Somme and are commemorated on the largest Commonwealth war memorial in the world – The CWGC Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in France.
Somerset artist Rob Heard has had the painstaking task of making more than 72,000 hand-stitched shrouds, each wrapped around a 12-inch figure, one for each of the servicemen who were killed in the Somme but have no known grave.
Artist Rob said; “I tried to count out loud the number killed in just one day at the Somme, but ran out of steam at about 1,500. As I go through the process of putting the figure within the shroud, I cross a name off. It’s vitally important that each is associated with a name, otherwise the individual gets lost in the numbers.”
The project has teamed up with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), which built and cares for this iconic memorial to the 72,000 missing of the Somme – men who died during the battle and whom the fortune of war denied a known grave. The CWGC has made available the records of those commemorated on the memorial and created a permanent digital archive to store the public’s contributions. Members of the public will be able to upload their own photographs and stories of these men to the digital archive via the Shrouds of the Somme website."
http://shroudsofthesomme.com/
They want the general public to research the men who fell.
"From today, 10th November, Shrouds of the Somme will ‘Ask the Nation’ to search their family archives for pictures and details of those who died during the Battle of the Somme and are commemorated on the largest Commonwealth war memorial in the world – The CWGC Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in France.
Somerset artist Rob Heard has had the painstaking task of making more than 72,000 hand-stitched shrouds, each wrapped around a 12-inch figure, one for each of the servicemen who were killed in the Somme but have no known grave.
Artist Rob said; “I tried to count out loud the number killed in just one day at the Somme, but ran out of steam at about 1,500. As I go through the process of putting the figure within the shroud, I cross a name off. It’s vitally important that each is associated with a name, otherwise the individual gets lost in the numbers.”
The project has teamed up with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), which built and cares for this iconic memorial to the 72,000 missing of the Somme – men who died during the battle and whom the fortune of war denied a known grave. The CWGC has made available the records of those commemorated on the memorial and created a permanent digital archive to store the public’s contributions. Members of the public will be able to upload their own photographs and stories of these men to the digital archive via the Shrouds of the Somme website."