London, England: Tower Hill Memorial

The 20th century was a rough one for the United Kingdom. It played a key role in two World Wars, and lost a lot of its citizens along the way. You'd expect tributes to pop up throughout the capital city of London, and so they do.

One structure goes out to those who died at sea in World War I, including merchants, seafarers and fisherman. Twelve thousand people lost their lives that way. It was opened in 1928. 

Then World War II came along, and an addition was necessary to salute those for lost their lives. It opened in 1955, and part of it is shown here. Two sentries are depicting guarding the main dedication message in the middle, which salutes the 24,000 casualties. A third section is devoted to casualties from the Falkland Islands military action in 1982.  

By the way, there is a small portion of land in that area that is called the Martyrs' Memorial (which shouldn't be confused with the one at Oxford). It seems that about 125 people were publicly executed there for one reason or another - often for their religious views - during the middle ages (1500s and 1600s). Most of them were beheaded. Some others who were bigger names had the distinction of dying out of sight from the public. There's a little plaza that marks the spot. 

The name of Sir Thomas More, one of those victims, might be a little familiar to some. He chose not to recognize King Henry VIII as the head of the Church of England in 1535, and paid the ultimate price for it. Four hundred years later, More was canonized by Pope Pius XI.