Former and current members of the Desert Rats have gathered at the National Memorial Arboretum on the 80th anniversary of the second battle of El Alamein.
Former commanders joined veterans and serving personnel yesterday (23rd October) to dedicate a new memorial to those who have served.
A service saw wreaths laid and music performed by the the band of the Royal Yeomanry and a lone piper from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
Major General (Retired) Patrick Cordingley DSO, OBE, FRGS, Commander of the 7th Armoured Brigade in 1990 during the first Gulf War, said:
“Remembering those Desert Rats that have given their lives in wars is so very important to us all.
“A Desert Rats memorial unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum is not only moving but also inspiring”
Maj Gen Patrick Cordingley
The memorial features a steel jerboa on a stone plinth carved by veterans to resemble sand dunes. Standing over two metres high, the sculpture is oriented towards El Alamein.
It is accompanied by the 7th Armoured Division’s stone memorial that replaced the original wooden signpost raised outside Berlin in 1945 to mark the end of their long wartime journey from the deserts of North Africa.
The signpost memorial had been relocated to the Army Staff College in the late 1950s, then to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
