The Land Remembers

What has a diameter of 300 feet, a depth of 70 feet and remains the largest crater ever made by man in anger?

''What is the Lochnagar Crater,'' would be the correct Jeopardy response. Daily Double, one hopes.

The battle of the Somme in northern France was preceded by an eight-day bombardment by the British of the German lines beginning June 24, 1916.

The village of La Boisselle was destroyed in the battle, but the Lochnagar Crater still survives, only because it was bought on July 1, 1978 by Richard Dunning to keep the crater from being filled in and built upon.

The crater is designated by a simple wooden cross. A ceremony takes place every July 1 to commemorate the first day of the Somme offensive in which 58,000 British troops died, one third of them perishing on the first day of battle.

Dunning makes no profit off the Lochnagar Crater, nor is there any governmental or official organizational funding for the site.