Item of the Month From David Gray

Fellow PMHG member Roger Negus and I were fieldwalking on the Somme battlefields one day back in the 90’s, when we made this poignant discovery. We usually picked up spent bullets, buttons, occasionally pieces of a hand grenade or bayonet, but this time we found something much more thought provoking which made us stand and think hard about the lost lives which had inhabited those fields nearly 80 years earlier.

The crucifix we discovered was quite small, 360mm x 200mm (14ins x 8ins). It was clear to see it had been crudely hand-made and was of an age commensurate with the other relics we were used to finding. The material of the upright piece was of a steel, cross-section. The cross piece was also steel, but flat. A hole had been cut in the longer piece and the flat piece had been pushed through it to form a cross. The bottom of the crucifix had been shaped to a point so it could be easily pushed into the ground.

There was no doubt in our minds that this was a cross which had been made in the battlefield area in order to mark the grave of a soldier. We have no idea of the identity of the soldier, or even his nationality. He could have been part of the British, German or French forces. We brought it home and it sits in a box in my garage with the rest of the found relics, unable to tell its story of a lost soldier, and carrying a weight of sadness which I believe will never find release.