SOLDIERS that passed at the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux the French Somme sight are never far from our thoughts.
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It is believed that in 1993 Mount Isa Mines donated plaques to remind those who visit the memorial that “their sacrifice is not forgotten”.
According to the Australian War Memorial websitemore than 100,000 British infantrymen were ordered from their trenches in the early morning of July 1, 1916, and within 24 hours they suffered almost 60,000 losses being recorded as the “most costly day in its history”.
Mount Isa Mines has no records that it was able to provide for further information as to why it donated the plaque. Translation of the plaque from a Mount Isa Mines Worker: (Supplied by Mount Isa Mines)
Australia erected its national war memorial here to commemorate the nation’s feat of arms in France and Belgium during the war. This memorial also remembers and honours the 10,856 Australian dead who have no known grave and died in France (other than in Fromelles). The national memorial with its 32-metre tower overlooks many of the battlefields in which Australians fought, including those to the north around Dernacourt and to the south beyond Villers Bretonneux. The memorial is located on a hill from which Australians and British (troops) repulsed German advances on Villers Bretonneux on April 24, 1918.
The memorial was built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and unveiled in 1938 by King George VI. In 1940, French forces briefly held the advancing Germans in the area.
Signs of the damage done by the Germans artillery can still be seen today. Separated from this memorial is the cemetery which was made after the 1918 armistice.
Graves from other burial sites and the battlefield were concentrated here. Men from many nations lie here in peace.
Their sacrifice is not forgotten.