PLANS have been unveiled for a national memorial to one of the British Army’s most famous regiments – the Durham Light Infantry (DLI).

It will feature a bronze life-size DLI bugler dressed in Korean War era uniform – Korea being the regiment’s last Battle Honour.

An appeal to raise £50,000 for the statue at the National Memorial Arboretum, in Staffordshire, will be officially launched at the DLI Museum and Art Gallery, in Durham City, at 6pm tomorrow.

It is the idea of former DLI Sergeant Keith Straughier, after he and former Corporal Richard Softley visited the arboretum to find their regiment had been forgotten.

“We noticed there were several very good memorials, but nothing for the DLI,” said Mr Straughier “The DLI has served with distinction in many conflicts and we felt the omission was unacceptable and decided to do something about it.”

The old soldiers won the backing of the trustees of the DLI and The National Memorial Arboretum.

“The arboretum honours soldiers who have died since the Second World War,” said Mr Straughier.

“We decided on a statue of a DLI bugler dressed in combat clothing from the war.”

The Korean War began in 1950 and ended in 1953 after the Republic of Korea, supported by United Nations forces, fought the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Chinese Army to a stalemate.

It was a platoon of 1 Battalion DLI buglers who sounded the ceasefire for the whole of Commonwealth Division from a hilltop on the frontline.

By the end of the war, 1,078 British soldiers had been killed in action, 2,674 wounded and 1,060 missing or taken prisoner.

1 DLI lost 24 men, including two Koreans attached to the battalion.

A further three DLI soldiers were missing presumed killed while 124 were wounded.

The statue at the arboretum will stand on a slab of Durham granite, mounted on a 4ft plinth of Portland stone.

DLI trustee Brigadier Robert MacGregor-Oakford, who served in Korea, said: “The DLI have made a major, almost unique contribution to the defence of their country for over 200 years.

“DLI soldiers and their families endured huge sacrifices in doing so – 12,000 losing their lives in the First World War. It was a regiment awarded 11 VCs and acclaimed wherever it went.”

The Lords Lieutenant of County Durham and Tyne and Wear and General Sir Peter de la Billier have agreed to be patrons of the appeal.

Brig MacGregor-Oakford said: “The DLI trustees now seek the support of everyone in the county, and of all those who served in the regiment or were associated with it, in raising the sum required.

“It is not just to honour a great and famous regiment, but to ensure that it and, in particular, County Durham itself, are properly honoured on the national stage.”

The appeal will be unveiled at the formal launch of the exhibition Courageous Restraint: 3 Rifles in Afghanistan, which opened in November.

Created from interviews with soldiers from the region, the exhibition explores the recent, sixmonth tour of Third Battalion The Rifles in Helmand province, Afghanistan, which ended in April last year.

■ Cheques, made payable to the Regimental and Chattels Charity of the former DLI, should be sent to: The DLI Memorial Appeal, The Rifles Durham Office, Elvet Waterside, Durham DH1 3BW.

Tracing the Faithful Durhams

RAISED in 1758 by General John Lambton as the 68th Regiment of Foot,The Faithful Durhams became a light infantry regiment in 1808.

During the Napoleonic Wars, it fought in Portugal and Spain, and later saw action in the Crimean War and in New Zealand.

In 1881, the 68th Regiment of Foot merged with the 106th Regiment of Foot to become the Durham Light Infantry (DLI).

The DLI served in Egypt and South Africa and, during the First World War, expanded from nine battalions to 43.

During the Second World War, the DLI fought in every major theatre of war and 3,000 DLI soldiers died in the conflict.

The DLI fought its last campaign, in Borneo, in 1966.

In 1968, it was announced the DLI would join three other county light infantry regiments to form The Light Infantry, which became part of The Rifles in 2007.