Call for permanent memorial to Dukes REGIMENT WHICH FOUGHT FROM WATERLOO TO AFGHANISTAN IN APPEAL TO RAISE £180K

OLD soldiers are on campaign again – to raise £180,000 for a memorial to one of the British Army’s most distinguished regiments in its historic home of Halifax.

The appeal has been launched by the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment Association – 11 years after the unit regiment became the 3rd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment (Duke of Wellington’s).

The regiment, which dates back 300 years and is named after the duke who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, has no formal memorial.

Now it is proposed to create a permanent memorial to the regiment, which recruited extensively in the Huddersfield and Halifax areas for many decades.

Huddersfield drill hall has a memorial to members of the regiment who lost their lives in the First World War.

Brigadier Andrew Meek, of the memorial appeal committee, said: “It is now over 11 years since The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment left the Army’s order of battle and whilst a number of plaques and other mementoes have been unveiled in West Yorkshire, there is no formal memorial to reflect the Regiment’s 300 years of loyal and conspicuous service to the Crown.

“The time is now right for the creation of a significant, permanent memorial to the regiment. Missing this opportunity would allow the regiment and its legacy to be relegated to footnotes in the history books.”

He said: “The purpose of the memorial is far greater than simply a statement the regiment existed and that ‘we were different.’ We know we were genuinely different and this is sufficient reason for there to be a memorial.

“But there is more to it than simply reflecting a certain uniqueness: the memorial will honour all those ‘Dukes’ who gave their lives; it will commemorate our heritage;