Work begins on £1million war memorial funded by Sun on Sunday campaign
Foundations laid for monument honouring Iraq and Afghanistan veterans
WORK has begun on a permanent monument to remember hero veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars – which was funded by a Sun on Sunday campaign.
The foundations have been laid for the £1 million memorial in a garden of remembrance on the banks of the Thames.
Separately, leading sculptor Paul Day is working away at his studio in France on the desert heroes tribute.
It will feature two huge stones – one representing Iraq and the other Afghanistan – linked by a giant two-sided bronze medallion depicting the memorial’s theme of “duty and service”.
The front will portray the military effort by more than 300,000 military personnel over 24 years of conflict in the two countries during the Gulf, Iraq, and Afghan Wars – and remember the 680 who lost their lives.
The reverse side will pay tribute to the thousands more civilians who served in the countries as military support staff, aid workers or reconstruction teams.
Mr Day, who designed the huge statue of two kissing lovers at St Pancras station, a memorial to the Queen Mother on the Mall and the Battle of Britain monument in central London, said he wanted the memorial to be “a place where families of lost soldiers, where injured veterans, the Armed Forces and the public in general can meet and unite in tribute and respect and memory to those who have suffered and paid the ultimate price”.
It is hoped that work on the memorial will be completed in the autumn ahead of a major unveiling ceremony early next year.
It will take pride of place in a garden in front of the Ministry of Defence main building which also features memorials to the Korean War, the Chindits special force which served in India and Burma during the Second World War, and several leading military figures.
Former Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Stirrup, who heads the Iraq/Afghanistan Memorial Project charity, said: "I'm delighted that work has begun on this fitting memorial to all the military and civilian personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and look forward to it being unveiled early next year.
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“The stone has been chosen, the medallion is being cast, the foundations have been laid – it will soon be a case of putting it all together so their duty and service is never forgotten.”
The £1 million memorial was made possible after a fundraising campaign by The Sun on Sunday proved an extraordinary success.
Generous readers, leading companies and major donors helped get the cash together in just seven months.
Memorial to victims of Tunisia massacre
By TOM NEWTON DUNN Political Editor, in Warsaw
A MEMORIAL to the 31 Brit victims of the Tunisia terror attacks is to be erected, David Cameron reveals today.
Armed fanatics massacred 30 holidaymakers near Sousse last year and another Briton was killed at a museum in Tunis.
The PM added that a memorial to all Brit victims of terrorism abroad will also be built.
He said at a Nato summit: “They will be places where family and friends of people killed can reflect and remember.”
The projects will be funded by fines levied on sinning banks.
The remembrance site for terror victims abroad will be at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
Mike Haines, whose brother David was executed by Isis in 2014, said: “Families of people killed now have a place of peace and remembrance.”