Over the years our country has been involved in a number of wars and violent conflicts right across the world, from Northern Ireland to The Falklands, to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some of those conflicts have been very controversial, but honouring the service men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in those conflicts should not be controversial. They and their families deserve
our respect and sympathy.

My impression is that our area, in recent years, has had more than its fair share of fatalities. But, unlike those who died in the First and
Second World Wars, we have no memorial to their memories.

The resident's idea is that the new regeneration should include such a memorial. It does not have to be grandiose. It should be tasteful and gracious, perhaps even 'low key', just like the memorial to those who died in the Vietnamese War in the Arlington Cemetery in Washington. It may even be that local people could be invited to make contributions. I would certainly be happy to do so.

The ideal site might be relatively close to the existing memorial, perhaps in or near that beautiful garden at the edge of Watts Slope.

If your readers support this idea I hope they will say so. The more people who support it the better chance we have of getting a fitting memorial to our young citizens who have fallen.

IAN GRAYSON
Labour Representative in
Monkseaton South Ward

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