Hampshire-made sculpture centre of new D-Day memorial

The bronze statue, put together and bronzed by Sculpture Castings in Eagle Court, Basingstoke, is a centre-piece of the new permanent British memorial which was unveiled yesterday (Sunday) to mark the 77th anniversary of the invasion.

The memorial as a whole cost £30 million, and because of Covid restrictions, many veterans were forced to watch the unveiling via video link.

Undated handout photo issued by britishnormandymemorial.org of the new British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer in France. Issue date: Sunday June 6, 2021.

Veterans and their families gathered at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire on Sunday to watch the event remotely on a large screen and to mark the 77th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The Last Post was played at 11am and was followed by a two-minute silence.

Meanwhile, British and French wreaths were placed in front of the D-Day wall at the memorial in France as bagpipes played in the background.

The RAF’s Red Arrows then flew overhead in formation to mark the memorial’s opening.

The three nine-foot-tall sculptures of three charging infantrymen, which weigh over a ton each, were created by sculptor David Williams-Ellis, and put together and bronzed in Basingstoke.

The new British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer in France on the anniversary of the D-Day landings. Picture date: Sunday June 6, 2021.

Having been a long-term client of Basingstoke-based Sculpture Castings Ltd, Mr Williams-Ellis once again chose the firm to aid with the construction of this historic monument.

Speaking in 2019, when the project was first revealed, foundry manager at Sculpture Casting, Adam Paddon, said he knew about the project about four or five years ago when David was chosen to do the piece.

Mr Paddon added: “As we have worked extremely closely with David in the past it was an absolute honour to be chosen to be part of such a huge and significant project.”

During a nine-month period, Mr Paddon and his team worked on wax castings before covering them in bronze and cooling them off by placing them outside of the foundry.

The sculptures of three charging infantrymen, which weigh over a ton each, were made in Basingstoke.

He added: “It was quite funny, because where we are close to the railway line, we would get messages asking about these giant soldiers which were outside when they were cooling off.

“We had to do some of the project in secrecy and could only give sneak peaks when David was showing news outlets.”

Mr Paddon added: “It was such a big project and was a huge fixture of the foundry for such a long time that it was a bit sad to see it leave, but the response to the structure from friends, families and veterans that it was all worth it.”

The memorial is located near Ver-sur-Mer which overlooks Gold beach, and contains the names of all 22,442 soldiers that died on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.