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What inspired Guernsey's Liberation Monument?

Euan Duncan
BBC News, Guernsey
BBC The Liberation Monument with buildings and the memorial mast behindBBC
The monument is an obelisk and sundial

Ahead of Guernsey's 80th anniversary of Liberation, what's the story behind the Liberation Monument?

It was unveiled in 1995 by King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, to celebrate 50 years of the island being liberated.

The monument is an obelisk and sundial and is made of 50 layers of granite with each layer representing a year of freedom since the island was liberated in 1945.

The top layers are sheared away to represent the five years of occupation endured by islanders.

Each year on 9 May the shadow of the sundial precisely points at inscriptions on the back of the seating area, telling the story of the day of Liberation at the times they took place.

How Guernsey's Liberation Monument tells the story of 1945
David sits on a white granite curved bench seat. He has short white hair and is wearing a navy blue knitted jumper.
David Le Conte checked the sundial every Liberation Day to check all the work he did was "worth it"

The key astronomical calculations were made by David Le Conte of La Societe Guernesiaise, who was involved with NASA's moon landing, to determine the timing and position of the shadow.

"It's a sundial which only works on one day of the year."

The shadow from the sundial lands on inscriptions on the seating at significant moments from 9 May 1945.

The g of the surrender of the German forces at 07:15, the landing of the British Liberating Force at 08:00, and the unfurling of the Union Flag at 10:15.

David Le Conte A crowd gathered around the Liberation Monument, which is covered ahead of its unveiling.David Le Conte
David Le Conte Prince Charles unveiling the Liberation Monument with a crowd watching on.David Le Conte
Crowds gathered on Liberation Day in 1995 for the unveiling
The Monument was unveiled by the Prince of Wales on Liberation Day in 1995.

Mr Le Conte had to invent his own computer software to calculate the position of the sun and the position of the obelisk from various heights.

"I ended up with reams of figures because I thought it would be interesting to calculate how long the monument is going to last for.

The design of the monument is not just specific to one day each year, but also to Guernsey.

"I actually did calculations for 3,000 years into the future just out of interest to see what would happen."

David checked the sundial every year on Liberation Day until his death in August 2020 to "satisfy" himself that all the work he did was "worth it".

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