World War II Memorial

World War II Memorial

This war memorial was constructed in 1949 by F R B Haward, designed in the style of the nearby World War I war memorial. It is built from Portland stone.

The memorial takes the form of a three-sided walled enclosure with its open side facing east towards the main entrance of the World War I memorial. Two steps lead down to a central area paved with grey stone, bordered by a decorative band of knapped flint. The rear wall contains a central pier with a tapered upper section and shallow pyramrical cap, flanked by similar but lower piers at the corners and the end of each side wall.

The central pier bears a large bronze dedication plaque featuring the Great Yarmouth coat-of-arms in colour. Small bronze swords of sacrifice mounted on stone crosses stand at the end of each arm, with a bronze wreath positioned above the central plaque.

The names of the fallen are inscribed on 22 bronze vertical panels: six to either side of the central pier and five on each side wall. A total of 619 servicemen are listed on the east- and south-facing walls, whilst 162 civilians are commemorated on the north-facing wall. An additional plaque on the north-facing side of the terminal pier records six local citizens who died subsequently in active service.

A memorial to Gurkha soldiers has been added at the foot of the central pier, consisting of a bronze plaque on a grey granite slab. This memorial was originally placed in a disused church in 1982 and was relocated to its present position in April 2009.

The memorial was unveiled on 12 November 1949 by the Mayor of Great Yarmouth, Alderman F Kruber, and dedicated by the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Norwich.