ARMED FORCES MEMORIAL

Dedicated: 12 October 2007

Commemorates: This stunning memorial contains the names of 16,000 Service men and women killed on duty or by terrorist action since the end of the Second World War, engraved in stone around its walls. Designed by Liam O’Connor, the Memorial is a magnificent piece of architecture in its own right. It embraces a peaceful setting with space for families and friends to remember their loved ones.

The Memorial was dedicated by HM The Queen on Friday 12 October 2007 in a service led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Names of those lost are added to the memorial each year and dedicated at a service in June. It is designed so that the sun shines on its central wreath at 11.00am on the 11th day of the 11th month during the annual Remembrance Day service.

Click here for more information about the Armed Forces Memorial

BASRA MEMORIAL WALL

Dedicated: 11 March 2010 

Commemorates: The Basra Memorial Wall is a monument to the 178 UK Service personnel and one MoD civilian who lost their lives on combat operations in Iraq and also lists members of Coalition Forces who were killed whilst under UK command during six years of conflict. The wall was built and eventually dismantled by British soldiers from 37 Armoured Engineer Squadron, a personal gesture to commemorate their fallen comrades.

The original memorial was built in Basra in 2006 and stood outside the front of the Headquarters of the Multi-National Division (South East). It was the focus for a Remembrance Service during the 2008 Poppy Appeal launch and has been dismantled and re-erected at the Arboretum.

The brass plaques on this memorial are the originals from the Basra Memorial Wall, which stood outside the Headquarters of the Multi-National Division South East in Basra, Iraq.  The plaques will be cleaned twice a year; before the anniversary of the end of combat operations in Iraq and before Remembrance Day, but in between they will be allowed to weather naturally.  This will allow the detail on these original plaques to last for as long as possible for the benefit of future generations.