A GREAT MEMORIAL

Taranaki Daily News, 23 April 1932, Page 11 (Supplement)

A GREAT MEMORIAL

THE SOUL OF SCOTLAND

(By

T.C.L.)

It was H. V. Morton who confessed that he found it more difficult to write about Scotland's national war shrine than about anything he had ever attempted to describe. It is because the memorial is a portrayal and expression of the Soul of a Nation that makes it so difficult to describe. Such a sacred subject indeed does not lend itself to description. It is one of the things that have to be seen to be understood and appreciated. It appeals to the emotions, it conveys its personal message to the heart as well as to the mind of the visitor, who leaves the precincts of the memorial with no desire to see any more of the ancient castle that day: his mind is so full of memories, poignant but full of pride,, of the gallant 100,000 men whose willing service and sacrifice the shrine commemorates.

Other memorials have different appeals. That majestic memorial at Menin Gate at Ypres, the storm centre for the British Army in Flanders for nearly four years, typifies the sacrifices of 'the British Commonwealth of Nations. It is general; it is not personal. The cenotaph in Whitehall, the inspiration of a day, placed in a busy thoroughfare near the administrative heart of the Empire, commands the homage of the most prosaic of men and women, but it does not evoke, a personal and national appeal. The grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster, visited daily by hundreds of people, and that of the French Unknown Warrior under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, with its Lamp of Remembrance ever alight, make a deep and abiding impression and an irresistible appeal to the emotions, recalling as they do poignant memories and sacrifices.

But the atmosphere and appeal of the Scottish War Memorial are different. “Scotland,” as one gifted observer truly remarks, “alone of all the nations who suffered in the war has visibly, and with pride, placed her emotion like an offering on the knees of God.” Sir Lawrence Weaver expresses Scotland’s everlasting tribute to her noble dead in these pregnant and striking sentences: “Scotland laments the glorious; England mourns the dead. The noble Scottish War Memorial typifies this characteristic of the' race, as the silence on Armistice Day is symbolic of the English temperament. When the Englishman bows’his head, the Scot lifts up his voice. While England has made an ethereal monument of her inarticulateness, Scotland has seized the occasion to mobilise alb the resources of her' national art into a visible monument with form and • colour. 'Scotland •needs sorrow for her art to become manifest. Her greatest poetry, her most haunting music, are laments. The Celtic strain causes the Scot to dwell long on the tragedies of his history and watches the cloud-shadows chase over the mountains and mourns .the dead chieftains . . . whereas the Englishman walks his valley and makes a lyric of its streams ’ and homesteads. It is such a bias tliat leads London, by ones and twos, to a flagstorie in Westminster Abbey, but drives Edinburgh to crown the castle rock with a coronac in stone.”

Scots from all parts of the world contributed to the memorial, but its noble conception was that of a gifted artist-architect, the late Sir . Robert Lorimer, who blended and harmonised the ideas and work of his devoted compatriots in one majestic whole. On climbing the steep causeway leading from the parade ground to the castle, the first sight is of. a great canopied niche in a wall of. stone of different colour and nature containing a figure of Freedom, one of a series of eight representing the motions of the spirit of man. In front there is a flight of circular steps leading to the porch of the Memorial. Over the door is a great arch, and, recessed within 'it, a mysterious figure symbolic of the survival of the spirit. Through the porchway, stretching right and left, is the great Hall of Honour, which is divided into pillared arcades. In each arch is the memorial of a regiment. Here for example, is seen the tablet of the Royal Scots, who put no fewer than 3'5 battalions into the field, and have on their roll of honour the names of 583 officers and 10,630 of other ranks who gave up their lives. The whole' hall is lighted by eight windows of pale glass, which in themselves make a complete presentation of the war. The four southern windows depict “War at the Front’ and “War as Manifested at Home,” and the other four “Guarding Cities from Aircraft,” “The Embarkation” and “Return,” and “The Last Post.” The windows also symbolise the Four Seasons. ‘ Each unit has its appropriate place. The Navy and Air Forces find their homes at the two ends of the Great 'Hall. Flanking the porch on the south side are two projecting bays, like chapels opening from a nave. Here are commemorated not only certain regiments, but also the women’s services, the Mercantile Marine, and the Padres, as well as the Royal Artillery, the Royal Engineers, and Germany. High up in these chapels is a series of roundels in which are modelled a pageant of animals and pets which also contributeu their service and made their sacrifice. From the Hall of Honour one passes under a soaring arch giving access to the Shrine, which bears the same relation to the Hall as the sanctuary of a church to its nave. The Hall is for record and remembrance; the Shrine for meditation and prayer. In the centre is a casket (given by Their Majesties) that enshrines the names of those who gave their lives. The windows symbolically. portray the birth of war; its overthrow; peace and praise. Thus war is neither glorified nor condemned. Below the windows a bronze frieze faithfully represents the various types of Scottish soldiers and sailors. All the regiments are represented, as well as the women’s services.

Brooding amid all this wealth of story and symbol hovers the impressive figure of St. Michael. From earliest times he has been given pre-eminence over all created spirits as the witness of Righteousness overcoming Wrong in the perpetual antagonism- between the spirit of evil and the spirit of good. Captain of the Heavenly Hosts, he. is conqueror of tl - powers of hell, but he is captain also of all earthly hosts fighting in a just cause. He is Conductor and Guardian of the spirits oi the dead. And so he broods above the casket 'where lie -written the hundred thousand names of those who were faithful unto death.

The visitor goes to the memorial full of curiosity; he comes away humbled but full of pride in; his face—ana with a lump in his throat and-tears in his eyes.