Poppy Day parade
Heritage Mossel Bay would like to find out more about the soldiers and their families whose names form part of the War Memorial at the Point.
"We would appreciate, also, any information on those known to have died in the war but who are not listed, and any who fought in the war and survived.
"It is hoped that information boards will be erected near the memorial, telling their stories," the chair of the Heritage Mossel Bay, Carina Wiggill said.
This weekend, on Sunday, 11 November the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I will be commemorated and there will be a special ceremony to mark the occasion at the War Memorial at the Point at 10:30 at annual Remembrance Sunday Service lead by the MOTHS.
Invitation
Heritage Mossel Bay would like to encourage anyone who can to attend and pay their respects, not only to those whose names are recorded on the memorial but to all of the 350-plus young people of the town who put their lives on hold between 1914 and 1918 to go and fight for our freedom, those who survived, and those who died.
This is considered to be the highest in South Africa when measured as a proportion of the town’s total population.
Described as one of the defining events of the 20th Century, “The Great War” started in August of 1914. Millions of deaths occurred before the Armistice of 11 November 1918.
After the war, the residents of Mossel Bay were anxious that a worthy memorial should be erected.
At a public meeting held 9 May 1919 a War Memorial Committee was formed. At its meeting of 14 December 1922, the Town Council agreed that a 260 x 160 ft (79 x 49 m) of the "Vintcent land" at The Point be set aside for the proposed Memorial. The site selected was around the rock outcrop known as Frog Rock, which dominated the public recreation ground, that overlooked The Poort.
Never in shadow
The cross shape of the memorial is so arranged that light illuminates the names of the fallen from sunrise to sunset and the names are never in shadow. The names of 21 of those who did not return, are inscribed on a panel surrounding the Mossel Bay Coat of Arms (the town’s motto is appropriately, “By Right and Justice we Prevail”) surmounted by the simple inscription, “Our Gallant Dead”.
A line drawn from the monument through the entrance gateway links Mossel Bay to Delville Wood.
Delville Wood (known to the soldiers as Devil’s Wood) is remembered as an example of supreme sacrifice and was the most costly action the South African Brigade fought on the Western Front.
On a mosaic map of Africa and a portion of Europe a thin red line marks the path from birth to death of the soldiers whose memory is perpetuated.
From the centre of the enclosed space, a rim of sea horizon can be seen at every point except where hidden by the memorial itself.
Local in concept
The memorial is local in concept and construction. The architect, William John Delbridge, ARIBA, FCPIA, ISAA, was born in Mossel Bay in 1878.
The stone came from the nearby quarry and was worked on the site. The builders were Messrs Coe & Bolton, of Mossel Bay, acknowledged for their excellent workmanship under the leadership of foreman Mr Donald.
Only the mosaics by Messrs McKillop of Cape Town were sourced outside the town.
The total cost of building the memorial was £2 000.
On completion, the memorial was described as “a thing of rugged beauty and intense mental delight” and as “one of the most remarkable and beautiful memorials of the Great War". - Mr H J Brownlee, A.R.I.BA. architect, builder and engineer, October 1924.