A sculpture commemorating the lives lost on D-Day has been unveiled at MediaCityUK today, on the first stop of a national tour.
Commissioned by The D-Day Story museum in Portsmouth, the statue has been made using 4,414 replica bullets - one for every soldier killed on June 6, 1944.
D-Day: Soldiers of Sacrifice was created by artist Alfie Bradley, the same sculptor who created the Knife Angel monument with 100,000 knives.
The sculpture will be in place in the Blue Peter garden at MediaCityUK for one day only, the first stop on a nationwide tour to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
The figure has been modelled on Den Brotheridge, widely believed to be the first Allied serviceman killed in battle on that one fateful day.
He is depicted on one knee, in the stance of a soldier throwing a grenade - though the ammunition has been replaced by a dove as a symbol of peace.
The dove itself has been given wings like a glider aircraft, to represent Brotheridge's position as a glider pilot.
Alfie said: "All the bullets around him represent all the other allied forces who passed away on D-Day."
Alfie, who is a qualified stonemason and has worked on castles and cathedrals, moved to the UK from France five years ago and has since created sculptures such as the Knife Angel, which is also on tour and currently in Hull, and a 12ft gorilla statue made of spoons for Uri Geller.
"I feel very lucky that I've been given the opportunity to create such important pieces," he said. "Hopefully it will make people think and make people remember the lost ones and the heroes of our country."
The D-Day Story Museum underwent a £5 million transformation funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund 18 months ago. As part of the process, they consulted with veterans, who said: "Please keep our story alive."
Jane Barnard, from the museum, said: "We need to reach out to a younger generation who perhaps don't know the details of D-Day, which is where the thought of doing a sculpture - something a bit more modern - came about.
"Den's daughter Margaret was born just two weeks after he died, so she's absolutely chuffed that we've done this."
The artwork will also travel to Liverpool, Aston Villa (Brotheridge played for Aston Villa Colts before enrolling), Waterloo Station, Bletchley Park (where codes for D-Day were broken), Pegasus Bridge in Normandy (where Brotheridge was killed) and then back to Portsmouth.
The D-Day 75 commemorations will take place on June 6.
