THE ULTIMATE RESPONSE

Roger Harvey nominates a sculpture in his native Newcastle as the most poignant and powerful memorial to duty and heroism

- Roger Harvey

There are thousands of war memorials in Britain. From simple stone tablets and plaques in chapels, through monuments of all shapes and sizes in town and country, to entire buildings including village halls and churches, even carvings on hillsides and dedicated tracts of land, they commemorate members of the armed forces who made the ultimate sacrifice.

While most were erected after the two world wars, the conflicts that inspired these buildings of remembrance can date back many hundreds of years and, of course, include those which still rage on today. Some are internationally famous, others are shamefully neglected. Some remember civilian casualties, some denounce war and cry for peace, some even salute a courageous enemy. Whether bland or showy and whatever their artisic merit, all strive to honour bravery, to recognise loss, and to ensure the dead will be remembered. In my opinion few succeed so well as The Response, 1914.

This powerful and poignant monument stands in the Haymarket of my native Newcastle: a busy area that also features the strikingly modern Civic Centre, the older St Thomas’s Church, a landmark obelisk of Edwardian elegance to soldiers of the Boer War, and the northern openings of the main shopping streets. This location makes it unmissable for anyone in that part of town. I consider it to be the most moving of all war memorials since it depicts the drama – some might even say the horror – of ordinary people having to leave their homes for a fight that is not of their own making but from which there is no honourable escape.