Location
At the junction of St. Helens Parade and Southsea Esplanade near South Parade Pier.
Description
The Stone copies the thousands of blocks put around the coast as an invasion defence.
Memorial
Inscription
(Facing the Sea)
D-DAY 6 JUNE 1944.
(Facing inland - left)
1940
FRANCE AND THE LOW
COUNTRIES HAVING BEEN
OVERRUN WE LABOURED
ALONE TO OBSTRUCT
OUR COASTS WITH SUCH
BLOCKS AS THIS AGAINST
INVASION BY THE
ENEMIES OF FREEDOM
(Facing Inland - Right)
1944
YET FROM THIS VERY
BEACH IN THE COMPANY
OF POWERFUL ALLIED
MANY THOUSANDS OF
OUR MEN EMBARKED ON
THE GREAT ADVENTURE OF
LIBERATING EUROPE AND
ACHIEVED THEIR OBJECTIVE.
(Below in the wall)
THIS MEMORIAL WAS UNVEILED BY
FIELD MARSHAL The Rt Hon the VISCOUNT
MONTGOMERY OF ALAMEIN K.G.,G.C.B.,D.S.O.
ON THE 6th JUNE 1948
FRANK MILES JP
LORD MAYOR
V.BLANCHARD L.L.M.
TOWN CLERK
A.J.SHARPE F.R.I.B.A.
CITY ARCHITECT
D-DAY 6 JUNE 1944.
(Facing inland - left)
1940
FRANCE AND THE LOW
COUNTRIES HAVING BEEN
OVERRUN WE LABOURED
ALONE TO OBSTRUCT
OUR COASTS WITH SUCH
BLOCKS AS THIS AGAINST
INVASION BY THE
ENEMIES OF FREEDOM
(Facing Inland - Right)
1944
YET FROM THIS VERY
BEACH IN THE COMPANY
OF POWERFUL ALLIED
MANY THOUSANDS OF
OUR MEN EMBARKED ON
THE GREAT ADVENTURE OF
LIBERATING EUROPE AND
ACHIEVED THEIR OBJECTIVE.
(Below in the wall)
THIS MEMORIAL WAS UNVEILED BY
FIELD MARSHAL The Rt Hon the VISCOUNT
MONTGOMERY OF ALAMEIN K.G.,G.C.B.,D.S.O.
ON THE 6th JUNE 1948
FRANK MILES JP
LORD MAYOR
V.BLANCHARD L.L.M.
TOWN CLERK
A.J.SHARPE F.R.I.B.A.
CITY ARCHITECT
Further information
Regrettably, this memorial was poorly cast and has suffered considerably from weathering, as well as from the effects of a car and several lawnmowers hitting it. In 1974 the City Engineers prepared a report on the condition of the memorial and recommended an extensive course of consolidation to the concrete. It is not known whether this was carried out.
Further evidence for the hasty erection of this memorial can be seen in very early photographs where the date of 1944 was originally written as 1945.
