THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN are being encouraged to come forward to help commemorate their service and sacrifice.
The deadline is approaching to have the names of loved ones who lost their lives in military service inscribed on the Brother in Arms memorial wall in time for this year’s Remembrance commemorations.
Meanwhile, applications for entries in the Sunderland Armed Forces Network online Memorial Book remain open throughout the year.
The wall next to war memorial in Burdon Road was built with funds raised by the Brothers in Arms organisation as a tribute to the community’s fallen heroes, and there is an annual roll-call for more names to be added to it.
To allow time for the application to be considered and if successful work to begin, people need to have their applications in by 31 July at the very latest.
The wall is a permanent, architectural tribute to servicemen and women from the community who have died in conflict, training, special operations and non-conflict operations since the Second World War.
Since the formal dedication of the Memorial Wall on Armistice Day 2011, there has been an annual ‘roll call’ asking for people to put forward new names to be inscribed on the wall in time for Remembrance Day.
The wall includes the names of service personnel from Sunderland who have died in recent conflicts such as Afghanistan and Iraq, and in Northern Ireland.
Deputy Leader of Sunderland City Council, Councillor Harry Trueman is the city’s Armed Forces Champion and part of Sunderland’s Armed Forces Network, which brings partners and veterans’ groups together to represent the interests of former and current servicemen, servicewomen and their families.
Councillor Trueman said: “Every year we invite families to apply for their loved ones names to be inscribed alongside their fallen comrades on the Memorial Wall, so they can be added before Remembrance Weekend in November.
“Our city is very proud of their sacrifice on our country’s behalf, and it is the community coming forward to support ‘Brothers in Arms’ charity which makes this lasting monument possible.
“ It was that support to Brothers in Arms appeal started by five families who had lost loved ones in recent years, that raised £150,000 over two years to design and build the wall.”
One of the founders of the Brothers in Arms charity, Tom Cuthbertson, whose son Nathan lost his life in action while serving in Afghanistan 2008, added: “We call on all families in Sunderland with a relative who passed away while serving in our armed forces since the end of the Second Word War to get in touch
“The Brothers in Arms Memorial Wall remembers every death in conflict or in training since 1945, and we’d ask you to get in touch if you’d like their names and sacrifice inscribed onto the Memorial Wall in time for this year’s Remembrance Day.”
People within the city who would like to see their loved one’s names appear alongside their fallen comrades on the Memorial Wall, should contact Mandy Howard in Governance Services on 0191 561 1330 or email mayor@sunderland.gov.uk for more information.
Families of all those who have served their country, can also permanently record their military service on the online Memorial Book and website launched by Sunderland City Council in partnership with the Sunderland Armed Forces Network in August 2014.
The online service is one of the first in the country, and provides people with an appropriate and permanent platform to pay tribute to all those who have fought for and served their county and then returned to community, civilian life in Sunderland.
Applications can be made to www.sunderland.gov.uk/
Once set up, it allows families and friends to submit photographs, letters and shared memories of the deceased to be displayed on www.safn.org.uk/safnbook