'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' — the Tower of London poppies — each of the 888,246 ceramic poppies representing one serviceman of the British Empire killed in World War I. The installation was a collaboration of artist Paul Cummins and stage designer Tom Piper. Since November, 2014 the poppies have been installed in other sites in the United Kingdom. Photographed October 3, 2014. © 2014 by John M. Shea
"During my leave, I remember principally observing the large decay of lively bright love of country, the crystallization of dull civilian hatred on the basis of 'the last drop of blood'; the fact that the German air raids had almost persuaded my London friends that London was the sole battle front; the illusion that the British Army beyond Ypres was going from success to success; the ration system. Perhaps the ration system weighed most upon us. This was not the ancient reward of the warrior! He had never had a sugar-card in Marlborough's wars, or even 1916. Meanwhile Hampton Court, and even the Palladium, seemed to be standing where they did."
Edmund Blunden, English writer, recipient of the Military Cross, second lieutenant and adjutant in the Royal Sussex Regiment, left the front of the Third Battle of Ypres to go on leave in London which had suffered bombing attacks from both Zeppelins and Gotha bombers. Hampton Court Palace is on the river Thames, about 12 miles southwest of London. The London Palladium is a theater in central London, opened in 1910, that seats over 2,200.
Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden, pp. 206–207, copyright © the Estate of Edmund Blunden, 1928, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: November 1928
1917-08-31, 1917, August, London, sugar, ration, rationing, air raid, London air raid
