A new memorial was unveiled last week in Wolverhampton to honour those who fought in the Far East during the Second World War.
A fundraising campaign, organised by the Rotary Club of Wolverhampton St George’s, paid for the £3,000 stone tablet which was unveiled during the VJ day parade on 15 August.
Read more from Birmingham Mail
The memorial inscription features the Kohima Epitaph. Read more about its origins.
August 15th is Burma Star Day at Imperial War Museum Duxford. There you will be able to meet and hear the first hand accounts of veterans who fought in the Far East during the Second World War.
Read more about Burma Star Day at Duxford
The Burma Star Association is very active in erecting memorials commemorating those who served and died in the Far East. We have currently recorded at least 68 memorials erected by the Assocatiation, many of them plaques such as this one in Plymouth.
The Kohima Epitaph is widely used on these memorials.
When you go home
Tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave our today
The Epitaph was composed by Major John Etty-Leal, adapted from a similar epitaph written during the First World War, which may itself have been inspired by an Ancient Greek epitaph, commemorating the Battle of Thermopolae against the Persians in 480 BC.
War Memorials Archive Blog 