“Lest We Forget” by artist David Goatley, painted in 2004

This mural depicts the heroism and sacrifice in the First World War, the “Great
War”. It speaks to the suffering of ordinary men in the trenches and elsewhere.
The artist’s son and a friend posed in rented uniforms to depict the soldier at right,
carrying his wounded officer. The huge gun behind them symbolizes the artillery
that pulverized the landscape and transformed it into a quagmire. The Victoria
Cross in this mural symbolizes the bravery of all men involved, not just for those
who received the medals.

Sir Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, 1915-1919, is
shown rising from the ruins of a town at centre of the mural. At left is the waste
mud of no-mans land at Passchendaele and the wounded men who endured the
terrible conditions. In the sky, Manfred von Richtofen, the “Red Baron”, pilots his
red Fokker triplane in an aerial battle with Canadian Captain Arthur “Roy” Brown
in his Sopwith Camel.

Best viewed in original size