On 8th and 9th June, Cornwall’s Regimental Museum hosted the impressive ‘Poppy of Honour’. A giant poppy which stands 2.6 metres high and contains more than a million handwritten names of those who died in World War 1.
The giant poppy made in Somerset has been touring the country since 2018 and arrived at Bodmin Keep on the weekend when the museum was remembering the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
The Poppy of Honour structure contains 1,117,635 remembrance poppies, which have all been handwritten with a different name, rank and date of death or missing in action of every British and commonwealth WW1 soldiers and officers. It was the idea of Terry Williams from Henstridge, who organised thousands of people across the globe to write the names of those dear to them. He said: “I was shocked that there was no national memorial where the names are recorded, they are only recorded on memorials in every village, town and city.”
The giant poppy is made of glass and steel. It was a mammoth project and one which saw more than a quarter of a million people from dozens of countries help.
The poppy also doubles as a time capsule as it has various items inside it including a pair of spectacles, a letter and soil from the battlefields.
The poppy was in place by the War Memorial at Bodmin Keep for 2 days for public viewing and for people to pay their respects. The Royal British Legion held a service on Sunday 9th June with all the military standards flying, it was a fitting tribute on a special weekend remembering the lives lost on D Day.
Museum Director Mary Godwin said:
“We were delighted to host the Poppy if Honour as it’s such an impressive memorial to World War 1 but also because the poppy is the symbol of remembrance for all conflicts. It will be especially poignant as we will be hosting it in Bodmin on the weekend when we are remembering the 75th anniversary of D-Day, which was such a major event in World War 2 with so many lives lost.”