Portfolio of Sculptor Morgan MacDonald
For many who survived that fateful morning on July 1, 1916, the Danger Tree, the lone reference point on a battle-scarred ground, garnered a place of reverence. Located roughly half-way between German and British Front Lines, it was one of the areas where the wire had been cut, prior to the battle, for the British soldiers to pass through. More than eighty soldiers were cut to pieces near this tree on July 1. The Danger Tree stands as a natural monument to the fallen of the Newfoundland Regiment, and is considered just as important a memorial to the fallen as the Caribou and the Newfoundland War memorial Park itself. The First World Artifacts that are incorporated into the Danger Tree are items sourced from the Somme battlefields near Beaumont-Hamel and were found in farmers barns after it was turned over in the plowed fields. This is known as the “Iron Harvest.” It is estimated that it will take another 300 years to clean all the ordinance and debris from the Western Front in France.