AN MP has promised to advocate a campaign by The Northern Echo to raise £20,000 for a fitting memorial to the DLI soldiers who fought at the Somme in France in the House of Commons.

Almost exactly 100 years ago, the young volunteers of the 18th Battalion Durham Light Infantry – better known as the Durham Pals – were met with slaughter at the Somme.

The regiment's D-Company, which had many Hartlepool men in the ranks, suffered especially heavy losses and the town's MP Iain Wright has promised to bring the campaign to create a fitting memorial at the Somme up with ministers in parliament.

He said: "This is such an important campaign. I fully support the work by The Northern Echo to ensure an appropriate memorial to the fallen from D-Company in the Battle of the Somme. I will raise the Echo's campaign with Ministers in Parliament.

"We should never forget the sacrifices made by our ancestors in the First World War. The North-East, and Hartlepool, did its patriotic duty in the Great War.

"Far too many from my town and region didn't come back home to their loved ones. We should be proud and humbled by the bravery of D-Company. A permanent memorial would be a fitting tribute."

Of the 75 men in D-Company who died, 21 were from the Hartlepools. Across the 18th Battalion more than 300 were killed or wounded altogether in the entire battle.

Christopher Akers-Belcher, leader of Hartlepool Council, said: “As the centenary of the Battle of the Somme approaches, I wholeheartedly support The Northern Echo’s campaign for a permanent battlefield memorial to honour the brave County Durham soldiers –many of them from Hartlepool - who volunteered to fight on the Western Front despite the horrors that awaited them.”

The DLI fought in every major battle of the First World War and lost more than 12,500 men, the tenth worst casualty list of any British Army regiment.

Mark Simmons, Hartlepool Museums Manager, said it was up to the politicians to represent the town and publicly back the campaign, but was able to add information about the Hartlepool members of D-Company.

He said: "It's really hard to comprehend when you look at the numbers. It overwhelms. There are a number of accounts but the ones who survive don't have the overview. However there were observers who could see the Company because of their divisional markings on their shoulder blades.

"They describe the men advancing into the smoke in the distance and disappear and that's the last many ever see of them. Over the battle of the Somme there's about 70 bodies never found. They get no burial and there's nothing ever sent back and no trace of any body. They just disappear."

Anyone wishing to support The Northern Echo appeal can make cheques payable to Former Charities Of The Durham Light Infantry and send them to: The Rifles Durham Office, Elvet Waterside, Durham DH1 3BW.