A ‘proud yet poignant day’ for Kilkeel firm
S McConnell and Sons played a key role in the creation of a major memorial for troops who landed on the shores of northern France in 1944 to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation. Last Thursday representatives of the company joined veterans and global leaders at the site of the memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, where a moving international event was held to mark 80 years since D-Day.
ROYALTY and world leaders gathered with veterans in France last week to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
And, amongst the guests invited to pay tribute to fallen soldiers at the UK’s national commemoration event at the British Normandy Memorial, in Ver-sur-Mer, were representatives of the Kilkeel company which played an intrinsic role in the sprawling and magnificent monument’s creation.
Almost five years ago, some 4,000 tonnes of French limestone was shipped to S McConnell and Sons’ factory, in the shadows of the Silent Valley, with a team of its highly skilled employees painstakingly cutting and carving the 22,422 names of service personnel who lost their lives on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944.
Company directors, brothers Stephen and Alan McConnell, along with the company’s contracts manager David Annett and quantity surveyor, Colin Lavery, had the honour of attending last Thursday’s ceremony, eight decades to the day since members of the Allied forces launched their assault on Nazi-occupied French soil.
On that day, in 1944, troops made up of British, Canadian, and American units attacked five Normandy beaches, which had the codenames Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. Whilst US soldiers landed at Utah and Omaha, British and Canadian soldiers touched down at Gold, Juno, and Sword.
Airborne troops landed behind German lines in support, whilst there was a flotilla of naval vessels.
While the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, did not end the war in Europe – that would take 11 more months – success on that day created a path to victory for the Allies. The stakes were so great, the impact so monumental, that this single day stands out in history.
The master stonemasons and the wider S McConnell and Sons team are, rightly, proud of their involvement in this world-class memorial, which is a fitting tribute to the sacrifice involved in liberating Europe from Hitler’s abhorrent regime.
The memorial, which overlooks ‘Gold Beach’ on the Normandy coastline, commemorates those who died under British command on D-Day, and the subsequent Battle of Normandy. In particular, the £30m commemoration features the names of the British personnel and those serving under British command who were killed whilst establishing a European mainland bridgehead that led to the end of World War Two.
The monument is the largest yet produced by S McConnell and Sons and London-based architect Liam O’Connor.
Their previous collaborations are the Armed Forces Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, and the Bomber Command Memorial in London. In addition, McConnell’s skilfully crafted The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, also in London, at Hyde Park, which was officially opened back in 2004.
The stone used for this overseas project is the French limestone Massangis, which was quarried and then shipped to Rosslare before being transported to McConnell’s site, off the Carrigenagh Road, where it was carefully crafted into various elements of the memorial, which includes 160 columns topped with oak beams. In total, over 30 nations are represented on these pillars.
Each column comprises seven stones, with the inscriptions, including the rank of each of those who lost their lives, which were meticulously cut into the pieces by the McConnell workforce using specialist computer-driven technology.
The site selected for the memorial is a field on the outskirts of Ver-sur-Mer, a town which witnessed extensive action, both on D-Day itself and in the subsequent days and weeks. It officially opened in the summer of 2021.
Speaking after last week’s event, Alan and Stephen said the local company, founded by their late grandfather Sam in the 1960s, is “very proud” to be a part of the project.
They explained that the names inscribed by the McConnell’s team record every person, under British command, who lost their lives in Normandy between the D-Day landings of 6 June and 31 August 1944 when – with Paris liberated – the Normandy Campaign was officially concluded.
They said it was “a true honour and privilege” for the local firm to have been involved “in such a prestigious memorial, remembering those who gave their lives for the freedom we have today”.
Alan said “being back on the shores of Normandy today brings back the harrowing reminder of why this memorial was erected in the first place, remembering the brave men and women who left our shores and never returned. For their sacrifice, we will forever remember them.”
Alan, who appeared on BBC Breakfast news alongside David Williams Ellis who created the bronze sculpture at the centre of the memorial, added that they also met up again with the architect, Liam O’Connor, and discussed not only the long design process but how “it was so good to see the memorial looking so splendid in the morning sunshine.”
At the start of Thursday’s service, a 10-minute round of applause rang out as the veterans were brought to their seats and, as so many heard through the television and radio broadcasts after the event, evocative and emotional memories from D-Day survivors were read out.
Stephen McConnell said “it was really an honour to see the veterans, and to have been involved in constructing a memorial for them to be able to visit and remember their fallen comrades” and to be in the presence of their royal highnesses King Charles and Queen Camilla as well as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the French President, Emmanuel Macron.
He continued: “After the service we were invited to a reception to officially open the Winston Churchill Visitors Centre, where Alan was presented to His Majesty the King and Queen Camilla and again, this was not only a great honour for him, but recognition of all the work carried out by the team at S McConnell and Sons.
“In all it was a proud yet poignant day where we saw the hard work and dedication our whole team put into constructing this lasting memorial.”
He concluded: “As we walked around the stone columns we read some of the 22,422 names of the brave men and women who lost their lives during D-Day and the battles that raged in the subsequent months and we commented how the ground we were standing on would have looked so much different 80 years ago, when the battle was raging.”
