RGLI memorial stones on their way to France

CARVED pieces of Guernsey granite will be arriving in their new home in France today, where they will be used to mark the sacrifice of the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry during the First World War.

The Royal Guernsey Light Infantry Charitable Trust’s memorial stones are being shipped to Les Rues Vertes in France where they will form part of a centenary tribute in November marking the sacrifice of the regiment and its heroic role in the First World War’s notorious Battle of Cambrai. Pictured left to right are Rev. Dave Knight, Steve Collis and RGLI Charitable Trust co-founder Lt-Col Colin Vaudin. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 19261915)

The RGLI Charitable Trust has organised a number of commemorative events this year to mark the centenary since the war, and the Guernsey Press has been supporting the appeal via our Guernsey’s Finest Hour campaign to help raise funds for two memorials, one in Guernsey (now installed at the Town Church) and one in France.

Just over 1,000 Guernseymen were sent to France in 1917 to fight. More than 300 never came home, changing the lives of generations of Guernsey families.

The events are being rounded off with a ceremony in Masnieres at the end of November to mark the regiment’s heroic role in the notorious Battle of Cambrai, at which the granite memorial – signifying a piece of home in a foreign field – will be installed. But first the trust has to get the commemorative stones to France.

RGLI Trust trustee Colin Vaudin said everything had gone smoothly. ‘The stone weighs two tons – each of them about a ton – so we used a forklift truck to get them onto the truck.’ Guernsey gravel is also being sent over, so it can surround the memorial.

Full story in today's Guernsey Press