A PECULIAR monument strikes (colpisce) the attention of passers by (passanti) in Whitehall, London : it represents seventeen different kinds of clothes (vestiti) and uniforms around its sides (intorno ai fianchi). Each of them (ogni pezzo) refers to a job women did during World War II, jobs they gave back (ridiedero) to their men when they came back at the end of the war . Among them there are uniforms worn (indossati) by the Women’s Land Army (esercito di terra), Women’s Royal Naval Service (marina) , a nursing cape (berretto da infermiera) , a police overall ( soprabito da poliziotta) and a welding mask (maschera per saldature) . The monument, by John W. Mills, is a bronze 22 feet (6.7 m) high, 16 feet (4.9 m) long and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide.
The words written for the dedication replicate the typeface (riproducono il carattere) of war time ration books (note per le razioni) .
The memorial was unveiled (scoperto) by Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the end of the war and was dedicated to women by Caroness Boothroyd, patron of the Women of World War II . At the ceremony she said:
“This monument is dedicated to all the women who served our country and to the cause of freedom (libertà), in uniform and on the home front (sul fronte di casa). I hope that future generations who pass this way (che passeranno qui davanti) will ask themselves (si chiederanno) : ‘what sort of women (che donne erano) were they?’ and look at our history for the answer (e guardino alla nostra storia per avere una risposta) .”