The English inscription on this plaque reads exactly as follows:

DEDICATED BY HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY HAILE SELLASSIE [sic] I EMPEROR OF ETHIOPIA TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE BRITISH OFFICERS AND OTHER RANKS WHO TOGETHER WITH ETHIOPIAN PATRIOTS SACRIFICED THERI [sic] LIVES FOR THE LIBERATION OF ETHIOPIA.

16 TH JANUARY 1944 . . . . . . . . 1940 - 1942

As some viewers may know, I am fond of the many images of St. George slaying the dragon in Ethiopian Orthodox churches throughout the land. In those paintings, St. George is serenely confident, his horse is perky and brave, and the dragon is always loathsome and very often gaudily exotic.

In contrast, the trio on the plaque shown above - St. George, his horse, and the dragon - are Anglican to the core. There's not a trace of Ethiopian iconography. The dragon is the biggest letdown; he looks like Sinclair Oil's mascot, Dino the Apatosaurus.

Of course, none of the foregoing is meant in any way to offend the memory of the great sacrifice many Britons, Ethiopians and people of other nations made to liberate Ethiopia from the Italian Fascists, or to criticize the Anglican Church. Unless I am mistaken, Ethiopia was the first nation to be liberated from Axis occupation.

And, since the memorial is dedicated to British military forces, it's only appropriate the memorial should bear the British image of St. George and the dragon.