The theft of a flame...
The flame on the Bata War Memorial is a copy. The original was stolen. No one ever found out who took it, it's probably melted down for scrap. But we re-made it. We won't let people destroy things that way. After the theft, we took off the plaques with all the names, to keep them safe, as they were metal too. We kept them in the library. On Remembrance Day, we would carry them out for the ceremony. They were very heavy, and none of us are getting any younger.
But if you look at the memorial now, you can see the names are all back up. In stone.
They are quite an unusual collection of names, as Bata included civilian employees who were victims of the war, including a shoe shop manager killed in the bombing of their store. Some of the names are women, which is also less common on a war memorial. It was very important to get these names back up for everyone to see.
There are 12 names on the new granite plaques, that were not there on the original. Some who had died were not identified even in 1955. But we have found them, and added them on. We turned the theft into an even more powerful eternal flame.
From stories told at the Bata Heritage Centre Open Day.
Related Stories... 49, 17, 18, 19
But if you look at the memorial now, you can see the names are all back up. In stone.
They are quite an unusual collection of names, as Bata included civilian employees who were victims of the war, including a shoe shop manager killed in the bombing of their store. Some of the names are women, which is also less common on a war memorial. It was very important to get these names back up for everyone to see.
There are 12 names on the new granite plaques, that were not there on the original. Some who had died were not identified even in 1955. But we have found them, and added them on. We turned the theft into an even more powerful eternal flame.
From stories told at the Bata Heritage Centre Open Day.
Related Stories... 49, 17, 18, 19
