Delville Wood at the South African National Memorial & Museum

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Dedicated to all South Africans who served in all Theatres of War this is the only memorial dedicated to the participation of the South African forces on the 1914 to 1918 western front. 229,000 officers and men served with the South African forces in the Great War. Around 10,000 died in action or of their wounds. All who died in the service of the Union are named in a book held at the Delville Wood Museum next to the memorial. The memorial is located at the end of a central avenue which leads into the wood. The memorial building was designed by Sir Herbert Baker. The centre arch bears the inscription, in English and Afrikaans: "Their ideal is our legacy. Their sacrifice our inspiration" The bronze sculpture on top of the arch by Alfred Turner is of a horse and 2 men represent the 2 white races of the South African Union and British and Afrikaans. The figures are intended to symbolise the Greek and Roman mythological figures of Castor and Pollux, the twins with one mother and two fathers, one, Castor being mortal and Pollux being immortal.

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Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Delville Wood at the South African National Memorial & Museum, France
Photo credit: © Andrew Kanharn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1914, 1918, african, afrikaans, alfred, baker, castor, casualties, cemetery, delville, deville, fire, front, great, herbert, ideal, inspiration, legacy., memorial, memorials, museum, pollux, sacrifice, shell, shelled, sir, south, turner, war, western, wood