Tommy gets his gun following council retreat

SILHOUETTE commemorations for First World War troops were blocked by a parish council as they included rifles... until villagers forced a U-turn.

Plans for the so-called “silent soldiers” to mark the centenary of the end of the Great War in the New Forest village of Brockenhurst, Hants, were initially rejected by councillors who claimed that the images of “Tommies” carrying guns would cause offence to residents. Then some locals started a petition urging the council to reverse its decision and it gained nearly 1,000 signatures.

As a result, a meeting of the full council has now made a U-turn and ordered one silent soldier, which will be displayed in the village.

The near life-size metal silhouettes were designed by the Royal British Legion and were fixed on buildings, gardens, fields and roundabouts across the UK to remember fallen troops.

Pilot Commander Nathan Gray, of the Royal Navy, was the first person to land a jet on the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth

Metal silhouettes of First World War Tommies, with rifles, were initially rejected by parish council to avoid giving offence