My favorite moment in London actually came out of a time-crunching, anxiety ridden search for food. The evening of May 11th, I found myself in a group of seven scurrying along the streets of London to grab a quick bite to eat before seeing As You Like It in William Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. I learned from my prior adventures in Dublin that the best sights within a city are those you happen to stumble upon when exploring the streets, but the only discovery on my mind at this moment was dinner; my eyes were set only on food and getting to the show on time. While we hurried past St. Paul’s Cathedral, which I had explored the previous day, a member of our group pointed out a statue on the south side of the cathedral. Our curiosity got the better of our stomachs, and we made a quick stop to investigate further. What caught my eye first was the profile of a man with his arms thrown up and pointing at St. Paul’s, and I knew instantly this statue was a memorial for the Blitz. As my eyes followed the man’s fingers to the cathedral, the famous image of St. Paul’s standing strong amid the congesting smoke from German bombing consumed my mind and the meaning of the simple figure went from modest to profound in my mind.
I discovered several facts that help construct a fascinating narrative and relationship between the memorial and the cathedral. The structure’s official name is the National Firefighters Memorial, and it was built to commemorate those firefighters who lost their lives during the Blitz but now stands as a memorial to all firefighters who have lost their lives in the United Kingdom. The standing Fire Officer clearly points to St. Paul’s, but he more specifically indicates the phoenix on the front of the cathedral with the Latin inscription “resurgam” or, in English, “again.” The phoenix and Latin inscription combination suggests that no matter what obstacle London will rise from the ashes again. In the context of the Blitz, the narrative demonstrates the resilience of London and its people.
The British people felt the pain of World War II more than any prior war in their strong nation’s history. No longer was the fighting contained to a distant battlefield experienced only by those willing and able to fight for his or her country; World War II brought the fight home. The war affected the people, thus emerging as the “People’s War”; evidence of the “People’s War” in Great Britain is scattered around the country’s capital in notable, substantial monuments but is also found in smaller, less recognizable structures along the streets such as the National Firefighters Memorial. The vast presence of WWII memorials scattered throughout London demonstrates the immense reach of the war on the people of Britain.
When I walk around Washington D.C., I feel patriotism in independence and freedom, but when I meandered the streets of London, I felt the resilience and perseverance of London and its history. This fundamental aspect of British national identity is rooted in an extensive history of triumph and defeat, but it was largely altered and shaped in the modern world by the “People’s War” from World War II.