Iraq & Afghanistan Memorial

On Remembrance Sunday 2014, it was announced that Lord Stirrup, the former Chief of the Defence Staff, would lead the efforts to raise one million pounds to enable a national memorial to the British service personnel who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan to be erected in central London. By March 2015 Stirrup was confident that the full amount needed could be raised and by July 2016 work had begun on the memorial in the Victoria Embankment Gardens.

The memorial was designed by Paul Day. It consists of two large Portland stone monoliths, weighing 33 tonnes. On one side, one stone is inscribed "Afghanistan" and the other "Iraq", and on the other side one bears the word "duty" and the other "service". A side of each stone is left in a rough condition as a reference to the rocky terrain of Afghanistan and Iraq. The stones are separated by a narrow gap and support between them a thick bronze medallion or tondo sculpted with reliefs that echo the memorial's theme of "duty and service", depicting members of the armed forces on one side and civilian workers on the other. Unlike similar monuments the memorial carries no names, "to be inclusive…