THE MEMORIALS
A MEMORIAL TO THE IRON TWELVE IN IRON
We will erect a memorial in the village of Iron to the eleven British soldiers and to M. Vincent Chalandre, one of their principal protectors, who was shot with them in the Château at Guise on 25 February 1915. The precise location has yet to be decided, but it is hoped to erect it next to the existing village war memorial in the centre of the village and outside the village hall. Traditionally this is the where the villagers of Iron meet each year for their remembrance commemoration ceremonies on November 11.
On the front face of the pedestal will be the names of the twelve engraved in gold lettering, with the British soldiers grouped by their regiments, and listed in alphabetical order. Each of the other three faces will carry the regimental emblem of the three regiments to which the eleven British soldiers belonged. The pedestal will be surmounted by a bronze plaque which will record, in English and French, that:
HEADSTONE FOR THE GRAVE OF VINCENT CHALANDRE
As part of the research for this project, we managed to locate the last resting place of Vincent Chalandre. He is buried a few yards away from the eleven and his grave is in a state of utter neglect, a sad end indeed for a man once considered by the British Government to be amongst the very bravest of all the French and Belgian civilians to have helped British soldiers on the run.
A MEMORIAL TO THE IRON TWELVE IN IRON
We will erect a memorial in the village of Iron to the eleven British soldiers and to M. Vincent Chalandre, one of their principal protectors, who was shot with them in the Château at Guise on 25 February 1915. The precise location has yet to be decided, but it is hoped to erect it next to the existing village war memorial in the centre of the village and outside the village hall. Traditionally this is the where the villagers of Iron meet each year for their remembrance commemoration ceremonies on November 11.
On the front face of the pedestal will be the names of the twelve engraved in gold lettering, with the British soldiers grouped by their regiments, and listed in alphabetical order. Each of the other three faces will carry the regimental emblem of the three regiments to which the eleven British soldiers belonged. The pedestal will be surmounted by a bronze plaque which will record, in English and French, that:
HEADSTONE FOR THE GRAVE OF VINCENT CHALANDRE
As part of the research for this project, we managed to locate the last resting place of Vincent Chalandre. He is buried a few yards away from the eleven and his grave is in a state of utter neglect, a sad end indeed for a man once considered by the British Government to be amongst the very bravest of all the French and Belgian civilians to have helped British soldiers on the run.
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IRON MEMORIAL FUND
Designed by Webbo
| • | between October 1914 and February 1915 the village of Iron sheltered eleven British soldiers trapped behind German lines when the British army retreated to the Marne; |
| • | while the whole village sheltered them, their principal carers were the Logez and Chalandre families; |
| • | the eleven and Vincent Chalandre, were captured, and shot by the Germans in Château on February 25 1915. |
The proposed Memorial site in the village of Iron, Aisne.
Vincent Chalandre’s unmarked grave in the civil cemetery in Guise. (2008). In 2011, after lobbying by the Iron Memorial Fund committee, the local authorities have provided a stone slab.