John Sheldon's photos with the keyword: War memorial

Dol de Bretagne, France.

Portsmouth & Southsea, 2010. The loneliness, isolation and exhaustion of a soldier returning home has been captured well by this sculptor. I resisted the temptation to subdue the tones of the base plinth: I think that its intrusiveness reflects the sense of aloneness. "Decades of easy peace may go their way, And Tide and Time may drift us far apart, But you who shared our Savage Yesterday Will hold the highest places in our heart."

The pebbles placed on top of this memorial stone and the candle indicate that this grave is still visited.

Memorial stone for an unidentified German soldier killed in Normandy, probably in 1944. Someone has left an 'In remembrance' token. When I saw this it reminded me of this Babylonian text from 3 or 4 thousand years ago: "You, ghost belonging to nobody, who have nobody to bury you or speak your name, whose name nobody knows ... before Shamash, Gilgamesh, the Annunaki and the ghosts of my family you hereby receive a present, you are honoured with a gift." [Myths from Mesopotamia, Stephanie Dalley, Oxford Worlds Classics]

Scene at the Ranville War Cemetery in Normandy.

At Gavinana, Tuscany, Italy.

Taken in 1977. Ilford FP4 black and white film (rated at 125 ASA/ISO). Peak 135mm f2.8 telephoto lens Negative scanned using CanoScan 8800F.