A memorial artwork of 1,475 silhouettes of Second World War military personnel, representing the British soldiers killed at D-Day, has gone on display in the UK for the first time.
For Your Tomorrow will be open to the public at Buckinghamshire National Trust property Stowe Gardens until Remembrance Day on 11 November.
The installation, created by community artist Dan Barton for the charity Standing with Giants, was previously on display at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day on 6 June 2024.
The large-scale art installation also includes two bespoke figures of nurses. They are of Sister Mollie Evershed and Sister Dorothy Field, who died while helping to save 75 men from the hospital ship SS Amsterdam, which sank off the Normandy beaches on 7 August 1944. Both were given posthumous commendation for their actions and are the only two women commemorated on the British Normandy Memorial.
There are also 50 French resistance fighter silhouettes placed in the woodland alongside the footpath that circles the valley.
The artwork arrived at Stowe Gardens on 14 September after being brought to the UK on four lorries with a convoy of memorial riders on Harley Davidson motorcycles. The lorries carried 18 stillages decorated with a total of 22,442 knitted poppies (made and donated by The Women’s Institute nationwide), representing the total number of fallen service personnel on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy combined.
Standing with Giants designed the stillages, which display real letters and poems from fallen servicemen of the Normandy Campaign. This was part of a unique research project by the Normandy Memorial Trust to bring to life the personal stories behind the names engraved on the British Normandy Memorial. The stillages are also on display at Stowe Gardens.
The exhibition was installed over two weeks with the help of more than 200 volunteers.
For Your Tomorrow is open to visitors to Stowe Gardens, which is free to National Trust members. In addition to normal opening hours, sunrise visits will be offered on twelve dates during the exhibition and twilight events will be held from 18 October to 3 November to enable visitors to experience the exhibition at dusk, complimented by atmospheric lighting and music. Advance booking is required.
