LONDON’S WAR MEMORIES (Part 1)
On a month long stay in London several years ago, I was especially aware that the British are history-obsessed. Many of their museums and rituals, such as the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, keep alive memories of events from hundreds of years ago.
One event they tried to forget was World War I, when millions were slaughtered, disabled or shell-shocked.
For years, this effort to bury the past held, but the need to remember has taken over. A BBC series on World War I uses old film and much detail to convey the experience, and a London Times section uses a French photographer’s work to show life in the trenches.
My son-in-law Steve Bourque and I at the Imperial War Museum
IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
One result of the need to remember and attempt to make sense of war is the Imperial War Museum. A vast collection of material is housed in what was formerly the Bethlehem Royal Hospital for the Insane, more frequently called "Bedlam." It is unusual in its emphasis on the impact of war on ordinary people. Some of its best displays show the social effects of 20th-century wars on the people at home.
In addition, the museum has the world’s largest sound archive and the oldest film archive, as well as more than 6 million photographs, a collection of maps and 30,000 war posters.
The first floor holds a mixture of equipment from various wars, but artillery, tanks and planes from World War I are prominent.
The most impressive display, however, is in the basement, where many rooms have been given over to educating the public about the horrors of that war. There are flickering movies of men marching or going into battle, large guns firing and airplanes dog-fighting. The weapons are displayed and explained on computer kiosks.
Life in the trenches of World War I
The section with the most impact is a rebuilt trench like those the men lived and died in and charged into battle from. Manikins fill the area, and the sounds of battle provide a small taste of what it was like for the soldiers.
A number of other exhibits are particularly moving. One on World War II covers what it was like to fly over Germany on night raids, and another describes what it was like to wait for the all-clear to sound during the nightly London blitz.
If you have any emotional reserves left after this, there is the World War II Holocaust exhibit on two floors. This is definitely not for children. The emotionally loaded exhibit is built around the testimonies of survivors, film footage and touching displays of personal belongings of those who died in the German death camps.
HMS Belfast
HMS BELFAST
Across from the Tower of London is the HMS Belfast, a World War II and Korean War cruiser that has been restored and made into a museum. Steep ladders take visitors through the seven decks. Here my grandchildren were able to get into the Pompom gun turrets and work the turning device.
There are plenty of background sounds of guns and planes and radio announcements, but most important to understanding life on a warship are the realistic manikins demonstrating all the jobs on the ship — captain, baker, gun loader, mailroom worker, cook, surgeon and ordinary seaman, all done with the artistry of Madame Tussaud.
Their expressions are marvelous — handsome, homely, worried, scared, tired and amused.
