£70k raised to build tribute to Gulf fallen

Among the 47 fallen were Shaun Taylor, from Stourbridge, Kieran Duffy, from Kidderminster and Michael Dowling, from Uttoxeter.

The statue will be unveiled in February next year at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, to mark the 25th anniversary of the war ending in 1991.

Organisers say they believe the year-long conflict is often overlooked in remembrance events and deserves its own memorial.

Pte Shaun Taylor, who served with the Staffordshire Regiment, was accidentally shot by a fellow soldier.

The tragedy happened as Shaun's Warrior armoured vehicle, of which he was the driver, was about to gointo attack at the start of the ground war.

Section leader Corporal Darren Wilson, who was with him when he died, described him as 'the life and soul'' of his Warrior vehicle and a 'very professional soldier'.'

RAF pilot Flight Lieutenant Kieran Duffy, aged 24, from Larches Road in Kidderminster, was killed instantly when his aircraft crashed in the Omani Desert in Saudi Arabia.

A former pupil at Oldswinford Hospital School in Stourbridge, an inquest heard he was killed during a low-level training flight just before the actual war broke out.

He had been awarded a flying scholarship in 1982, qualified as a pilot whilst studying for his A-levels, and had joined the RAF in 1985.

Sgt Michael Dowling, of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, was armed only with light weapons when he fought against an Iraqi tank behind enemy lines before being killed.

The 34-year-old and L/Cpl Francis Evans leapt into action when a group of petrol carriers came under fire.

At his inquest, Warrant Officer Leslie Scott of the 10th/5th Queens Royal Lancers said: "It was the bravest thing I have ever seen."

Michael Rowley, who has helped run the memorial project, said the design was modern and simple but also distinctive.

He added: "We started as an appeal and became a registered charity within six months of us setting up.

"We are a group of veterans who served in the Gulf War and strongly feel that the 47 lives that were killed deserved a lasting memorial at the arboretum.

"We have contacted nearly all the families concerned and they all have given us tremendous support, to the point that three siblings are on the committee whose fathers were killed.

"This memorial is 20 years overdue to the 47 lost, and we feel it deserves some coverage, out of respect for the lives lost and the sacrfice they made, just as Iraq and Afghanistan are nowadays, or is this just another forgotten war like the Falklands."

Among the donations was £25,000 from the Ambassador of Kuwait. A group of fundraisers met representatives from the country at the embassy in London and were interviewed for Kuwaiti TV.