HEACHAM IN THE WAR |
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Heacham is perhaps unusual in that it has three war memorials. The first is located outside the church, in a niche between the two church gates on the western perimeter of the churchyard. It is the focus of remembrance each year on Armistice Sunday. The memorial was designed by the young architect Louis de Soissons, who later was to design, amongst many, Welwyn Garden City. On stone tablets are recorded, with their respective units, the names of the 43 men who fell in the Great War. Because some of the names were badly weathered the parish council recently arranged for the tablets to be replaced. The names of the fallen from the second war were subsequently added on two limestone tablets. |
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The Heacham War Memorial unveiled (1921?) |
The Heacham War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday 2006 |
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The second
memorial, |
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The Memorial Inside Church of St Mary the Virgin |
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The third memorial
is in the Public Hall, alongside the Social Club. This memorial was
unveiled in late 1920 and is particularly interesting in that it was
painted by Eddie Gosling (pictured below), a village man with no arms who undertook the
task using his feet! The memorial lists on its centre panel the 43 men
from the village who fell but on the flanking panels includes those that
served and safely returned; 13 in the navy, 232 in the army, 5 in Queen
Mary’s W.A.A.C., 9 in the Royal Air Force and 2 in the W.R.A.F. The
memorial is ornamented with a flag and a coat of arms but also a ‘war
trophy’ designed by de Soissons. |
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