A moving ceremony of re-dedication at Le Mémorial des Animaux in Pozières, France, has marked an important new chapter in the story of this special memorial.
Two striking new silhouettes, representing a horse and a donkey, have been installed to honour the animals who served alongside military personnel during the First World War and those who never returned home.
For the Australian War Animal Memorial Organisation, the additions continue a relationship with Pozières that stretches back almost a decade.
Le Mémorial des Animaux was created by AWAMO in partnership with the people of Pozières and officially opened on 21 July 2017.
It became the first war animal memorial established on the Western Front, commemorating not only Australian and New Zealand service animals, but animals from all nations who served during the First World War.
Pozières holds particular significance in Australian military history. The Battle of Pozières lasted for 41 days and became one of the most devastating battles fought on the Western Front.
Alongside the soldiers were animals performing vital and often dangerous roles. Horses, mules and donkeys carried ammunition, equipment and supplies through mud and shellfire, while dogs and pigeons carried messages across terrain where conventional communication could fail.
They had no understanding of the conflict around them. Yet they worked beside people, endured the same conditions and, in enormous numbers, never returned.
The installation of the new horse and donkey silhouettes extends the memorial’s representation of the different animals whose service supported military personnel.
Their addition has been made possible through an international partnership involving members of The Donkey Breed Society (Northern Region), The War Horse Memorial CIC and AWAMO, with the support of Association Moulin Cœur de Patrimoine Pozières and Association Digger-Cote 160.
That cooperation reflects something central to the memorial itself. Although nations fought on different sides and people came from very different places, the animals caught up in war shared the same vulnerability.
Remembering them is something that can bring communities together more than a century later.
AWAMO also extends its sincere thanks to Michael Lee, President of the Association Moulin Cœur de Patrimoine Pozières and a Life Member of the Australian War Animal Memorial Organisation, for his valued contribution and assistance with this project.
AWAMO is deeply grateful to every organisation and individual who helped make this next chapter possible. The project is a reminder that remembrance can cross borders and bring communities together more than a century after the events being commemorated.
Among those supporting the project was Chelsea Pensioner and poet Roy Palmer, aged 87.
Roy undertook an extraordinary 1,000-kilometre virtual bike ride to help raise funds for the new horse silhouette and wrote a poem especially for the Pozières commemoration.
One simple line captures the purpose of the memorial beautifully:
“We honour them now, because we must.”
Roy Palmer’s poem reflects on the horses, donkeys, dogs and pigeons who worked alongside people at Pozières, recognising animals that could never understand the war in which they had been placed.
Memorials are not simply markers of what happened in the past. They give each new generation somewhere to stop, learn and remember.
The new silhouettes at Pozières ensure the story told at Le Mémorial des Animaux continues to grow.
AWAMO extends its sincere thanks to everyone in Australia, the United Kingdom and France who contributed to the project and to those who continue to care for and protect this important memorial.
They served beside us.
Their contribution mattered.
They deserve to be remembered.
