Banking fines cash to move memorial wall to Staffordshire
A memorial wall in Afghanistan to British personnel killed in the conflict will be dismantled and rebuilt in Staffordshire using money from banking fines, it has emerged.
The wall, at the British Army base in Camp Bastion, will be erected at the National Arboretum at Alrewas, near Lichfield, and funded by £300,000 in fines imposed on banks over the Libor scandal.
Further money will be awarded for schemes aimed at helping military families and veterans. Among the recipients will be the University of Wolverhampton.
Work to transfer the wall is expected to take place over the following 18 months as troops prepare to move out next year. As much of the monument as possible will be used in the arboretum to provide a focal point for remembrance for families, friends and comrades.
The move was announced by the Prime Minister David Cameron, who visited Afghanistan at the weekend to mark Armed Forces Day.
Mr Cameron said it would allow future generations to remember 'those that fell and died in Afghanistan'.
The memorial wall bears the names of every serviceman and woman killed in the 12-year conflict.
The senior officer leading the project, Rear Admiral Simon Williams, said: "The new memorial will provide a place for people to remember at a collective and individual level all those who have fallen during the campaign.
"A place where serving comrades, next of kin, families and veterans can remember, be close to and honour their countrymen and women who made the supreme sacrifice in Afghanistan."
