Queen to dedicate forces memorial

[Kyt]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7040801.stm

The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince of Wales are due to dedicate the new national Armed Forces Memorial to those who have died since World War II.

The huge £6m stone circle in Alrewas, Staffordshire, bears the names of 16,000 service personnel.

The names of the men and women, killed in combat and training as well as in acts of terrorism, have been carved onto the memorial's walls.

The royal party will be joined by politicians including PM Gordon Brown.

There is room for 15,000 more names to be carved on the Portland stone walls of the memorial, at the National Memorial Arboretum.

The royal party, which includes the Duchess of Cornwall, will hear prayers for the dead by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

They will then tour the memorial, designed by architect Liam O'Connor, before meeting the families of service personnel.

Prince Charles said the people of the UK owed those whose names featured on the memorial "an enormous debt of gratitude".

"The magnificence of this new memorial will, at long last, provide a fitting recognition for all those killed on duty since the end of the Second World War," he said.

"It does not differentiate between those killed in the heat of battle or on a training exercise, by terrorist action or on peace-keeping missions."

As the Queen tours the monument, she will pause by their name of her cousin, Earl Mountbatten, killed by a Provisional IRA bomb in 1979.

It is hoped the new memorial's location will make it more accessible to some relatives and friends than London's Cenotaph.

The Armed Forces Memorial will open to visitors on Monday, 29 October 29.

[Antipodean Andy]

As much as we concentrate on WWII, it is easy to forget that men and women still put their lives on the line in service of their country and some pay the ultimate sacrifice in peacetime.

We will remember them...too.