Lost symbols restored: Imperial College remembers lives lost with renovated WW2 memorial
A lost Second World War memorial has been rediscovered by Imperial College London after 52 years – and has been restored just in time for this year's Remembrance period.
The memorial became a new centrepiece for the staff and students at Imperial College during their on-campus Remembrance service, honouring those who came before them.
Their Act of Remembrance honoured past university members, which included a brief ceremony that was followed by two minutes of silence.
This year's ceremony had 'two remembrance plaques lost in 1973 after a building demolition.
Michael Munroe, President of the Royal College of Science Association, told BFBS Forces News: "The WWI memorial was never found and had to be recreated from a photograph.
"Finding the WWII memorial in June was a huge step for us because it really pushed us over the edge in terms of 'let's get on and do this, we've got a head start only needing to repair one of the memorials', and they were only installed a week ago."
He added: "Seeing them unveiled today, I had a tear in my eye."
For the plaques that were lost, the service has also become a rededication ceremony.
Professor Richard Craster, the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, gave more details on the memorials.
"These are very heavy. They weigh 300kg, so the wall that they're mounted on was rebuilt."
He added: "Before that, we were using basically pop-up ones, and now we are using the real thing, which I think is much more fitting to the day."
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