D Day Soldiers of sacrifice sculpture

D-DAY SOLDIERS OF SACRIFICE SCULPTURE TO MARK 75th ANNIVERSARY YEAR

By Paddy Proctor

Knife Angel creator Alfie Bradley was commissioned by the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth to immortalise servicemen who lost their lves on D Day. The sculpture represents Ll Den Brotheridge of the Ox & Bucks LI who is widely believed to be the first allied soldier to be killed on D-Day and is surrounded by 4413 bullets representing all those who fell in battle on the first day.

The soldier’s form is kneeling as if to throw a grenade but instead he is releasing aa dove symbolising peace and acknowledging that these soldier’s deaths were not in vain.

This National Lottery Heritage funded sculpture was on tour after being unveiled in Manchester on 4th March then went on to Liverpool for a day. The next step was Villa Park home of Aston Villa FC where Lt Brothridge was an up and coming footballer before the war. This was followed by visits to Waterloo Station, Bletchley Park home of the code breakers then on to Portsmouth and Normandy and finally back to the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth where it will remain. I took the opportunity of going to see the sculpture when it cam to Bletchley Park and I was very impressed. It pleased me to see so many people, old and young, and school parties all interested in what it represented.

In the past I have visited Pegasus Bridge on several occasions some of them with Major Howard DSO and have met many of the veterans of the Coup De Main operation who captured the two bridges.

Lt Brotheridge was killed whilst leading his platoon over the Caen Canal bridge, later to be renamed Pegasus Bridge, and is buried in the quiet churchyard in Ranville.