Stone dedicated to last man standing as tulips bloom in remembrance
VILLAGE SERVICE TO REMEMBER REGIMENT AND THEIR MISSION
A MEMORIAL stone was dedicated at the weekend to the Last Man Standing from a Second World War regiment – while children who planted bulbs to the soldiers stationed in their village have seen their hard work bloom.
Padre Brian McAvoy conducted a memorial service to dedicate the marker stone to Victor Gregg, right, the final survivor of the Tenth Battalion, Parachute Regiment, who died in 2021.
The stone is at the memorial to the regiment in Burrough on the Hill, created by the Friends of the Tenth, a local remembrance group.
A plaque was also due to be dedicated to another soldier of the regiment, Private Jonny Young. The Tenth Battalion was stationed in Somerby ahead of the ill-fated Battle of Arnhem in 1944.
Somerby Primary School pupils planted almost 100 maroon tulips with the help of the Friends, who also gifted a plaque to mark the flowerbed.
The donation was part of Airborne Tulip Memorial’s wider mission to plant a tulip for each of the 10,000 soldiers who fought in the offensive in the Netherlands.
Head teacher Andrea Brown said: “It was an honour to see our pupils so engaged and dedicated to memorialising the lives of the soldiers of the Tenth Battalion.
“A huge thank you to Friends of the Tenth for donating the bulbs and special plaque.
“Friends of the Tenth (FoTT) and Somerby Primary School have a very special link as our school uniform colours represent FoTT and they kindly donate a PE T-shirt with their logo to every child. We also support the group during their annual memorial service, so being able to have these tulips on our grounds is a meaningful way to remember our fallen Somerby soldiers.”
Christine Stansfield, chief executive of Mowbray Education Trust, of which Somerby Primary is a part, said: “One of our core values is integrity. This has been an excellent way to teach children about this value, as they learned about the integrity and sacrifices of the soldiers in the Tenth Battalion.
“Thanks to the kind donation by FOTT and the dedication of the pupils who planted them, all can be reminded of this important sacrifice.”