THE FIRST public memorial for the Welsh Guards who died during the 20-year Afghanistan conflict could be consecrated in Wrexham next year.
The regiment, which was awarded the Freedom of the County Borough in 2014, has requested permission to place it in the Memorial Garden at Bodhyfryd. The regiment already has a memorial to those who gave their lives in the Falklands in the garden.
In its request, the Welsh Guards explained that there is no dedicated Welsh Guards public memorial in Wales for soldiers who fell in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021. It added there was an ’emotional and symbolic importance to providing a place of reflection and remembrance for families, veterans, and the wider community impacted by the conflict’.
The regiment is fully funding the memorial, which will be a Celtic cross made of welsh slate in Blaenau Ffestiniog.
On Tuesday, September 16 the request will be considered by the council’s Executive Board.
Councillor Beverley Parry-Jones, the authority’s Armed Forces Champion said: “Families, friends, relatives are unable to go to Afghanistan to grieve or to pay their respects so this would be a central place for them to come.
“The Welsh Guards have their Falklands Memorial Parade in June and if this request is approved the plan is for them to parade in honour of both conflicts moving forward.”
The Welsh Guards army regiment has a dual role. Not only is it one of the most famous branches of the British military – guarding the UK’s Royal palaces in its distinctive red uniform as part of the Household Division – it also operates as a flexible light infantry unit, deployed on the front-line in conflicts since its formation in 1915.
If the Executive Board supports the proposal, the Welsh Guards would then need to secure planning permission for the memorial. It is hoped that the Afghanistan memorial will be in place in time for the next Falklands Memorial Parade in June 2026.
As well as the Welsh Guards Falklands memorial, Bodhyfryd Memorial Gardens already features memorials to the Royal Welch Fusiliers, local fallen service personnel from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and council employees who died in World War I and World War II and Burma Star and Normandy veterans from World War II.
There are also memorials to Dakota pilot Flight Lieutenant David Lord – who posthumously received the Victoria Cross for valour for making a second supply run for troops fighting at Arnhem in WWII while his aircraft was on fire and ordering his crew to bail out before perishing during the crash landing and those who fell during the Korean War.
In addition to the new memorial proposal Wrexham Council leader Cllr Mark Pritchard confirmed plans to build an £11 million replacement Memorial Hall complete with Memorial Plaza – first tabled in 2023 – remains an ambition for the authority.
“Wrexham has a fantastic history of working in partnership with the armed forces as a former barracks town,” he said.
“Our aspirations remain the same we want to build something there. We met with the armed forces and they supported that. The Memorial Hall has been fantastic but it was time to look at a new building.
“But it’s always been subject to money. We won’t stop looking for opportunities, for grants to do something there. It would be wonderful to have a new building to celebrate Wrexham’s connection to the armed forces into the future.”
