Shrouds of the Somme

When Fraser and I were in Belfast recently there was an installation outside Belfast City Hall.

Rob Herd has created 72,396 shrouded figures one for each British Commonwealth serviceman killed at the Somme but whose body was never recovered from the battlefields.

In Belfast there were 3775 figures laid out, representing those servicemen of the Ulster Regiments.  It was a very powerful, very moving site.  I spoke with the gentleman who was custodian of the exhibition, he ensured the figures remained uniformed and that the birds didn't disturb the figures.

We talked about the loss, about the suffering of the families and then he made a comment that really hot me, the number of figures laid out before me was almost exactly the same as the number of people killed during the troubles.  Having family in Northern Ireland some of whom served in the RUC, as the police service was then known and who were touched directly by the troubles this really added to the impact of this installation.

Just as we cannot imagine the hell of the Somme, neither can we imagine the hell of the trouble as we did not live through them.  I have read a lot about the troubles and have heard first hand of how it impacted people but this served to show the futility of war.