EIGHT soldiers who died during the Second World War have finally come home with the unveiling of a memorial in their honour.

The bodies of the eight members of the Durham Light Infantry all lie in graves in the village of Saint Venant in Northern France, where they died during The Battle of the River Lys.

However, on Tuesday - 68 years to the day that they died - family and friends of the late veterans gathered at Stranton Cemetery in Hartlepool for a service in their honour, before a headstone was unveiled.

Corporal Henry Hugill and Privates Ronald George Victor John Ablett, Ernest John Fowler, Robert Hogarth, Oswald Legg, David Norman, John Roache, and Thomas Rodgers, died on May 27, 1940. They were all from Hartlepool Four lie in marked graves, and four in unmarked graves, meaning their families have been unable to pay tribute at their resting places, or lay flowers.

But George Rodgers, the younger brother of Thomas Rodgers, said, he finally felt that he had closure.

For four years, he tried to uncover what had happened to Thomas, and his search finally took him to a patch of farmland in Saint Venant, where his brother had originally been buried in a communal grave by a local farmer.

The 71-year-old, who is the youngest of 21 children, has written a book about his search, but said he also wanted to unveil a memorial locally, where the relatives of the fallen could visit.

He said his efforts were also in tribute to his parents, James Henry and Amelia Jane, who had raised their family in Wingate, County Durham.