Plaque: The Fallen
Falne
Vi er sa fa her i landet, hver fallen er bror og venn. Vi har de dode med oss. Den dag vi kommer igjen.
Nordahl Grieg, 17 Mai 1940
{Translates as:}
The Fallen
We are so few in this country that every loss is a brother and a friend. The dead are with us. The day we will be back.
{Obviously the translation of those last two sentences needs improving, but we don't have a Norwegian consultant.}
17 May is the Norwegian's National Day, celebrating the signing of their constitution in 1814.
The quotation comes from a poem entitled "May 17, 1940" (Today the flagpole stands naked ...) and was read on May 17 1940, in a broadcast from Tromsø radio (broadcast from a part of Norway not under occupation). We know that Grieg was in London in 1940 since he married here that year (though we cannot discover the exact date). We wonder if the ceremony took place at this church. That would explain this plaque being here.
Site: St Olav's Church (8 memorials)
SE16, St Olav's Square
St Olav's Church was designed by John Love Seaton Dahl. Crown Prince Olav was present at the laying of the foundation stone, 1926, and then at the consecration, 1927. During WW2 this was the church used by King Haakon VII and the Norwegian government in exile. It is one of over 30 churches around the world run by the Norwegian Church Abroad, also known as The Norwegian Seamen’s Church.
Serendipitously the Google Streetview of September 2017 captured the Haakon bust covered with a veil, presumably just hours before the photo captured here.
The Ebenezer Church plaque is in the garden in front of the church in the centre of the northern wall.
The Fallen plaque is laid into the ground of the garden, at the foot of the WW1 memorial.
The three 'St Olav' plaques are attached low on the west front of the building.
At Surrey Docks we have an 1889 map which shows the road layouts before the Rotherhithe Tunnel roundabout arrived.
