Plaque Wording:
{top plaque} 1939 [Desert Rat emblem] 1945
7th ARMOURED DIVISION
DESERT RATS
FROM EL ALAMEIN TO BERLIN
VIA
NORTH AFRICA . ITALY . THETFORD FOREST . FRANCE . BELGIUM . HOLLAND
The 7th Armoured Division was stationed in Thetford Forest between January and May 1944 while they prepared for the invasion of Normandy. This was the only time the division was in the United Kingdom in it's entire existence. The division sailed from Felixstowe on the 5 June 1944 with the first tanks landing on Gold Beach on the evening of 6 June 1944.
May your glory ever shine, may your laurels never fade, may the memory of this glorious pilgrimage of war you have made from Alamein, via the Baltic, to Berlin never die, it is a march unsurpassed through all the story of war.
May the fathers long tell the children about this tale. Winston Churchill
{bottom plaque} (left emblem: 4th Armoured Brigade) To the Glory of God and in the memory of all those who served with 'The Desert Rats' 1945 - 2003 (right emblem: 7th Armoured Brigade)
Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always
The 7th Armoured Division was stationed in Thetford Forest between January and May 1944 while they prepared for the invasion of Normandy. This was the only time the division was in the United Kingdom in it's entire existence. The division sailed from Felixstowe on the 5 June 1944 with the first tanks landing on Gold Beach on the evening of 6 June 1944.
May your glory ever shine, may your laurels never fade, may the memory of this glorious pilgrimage of war you have made from Alamein, via the Baltic, to Berlin never die, it is a march unsurpassed through all the story of war.
May the fathers long tell the children about this tale. Winston Churchill
{bottom plaque} (left emblem: 4th Armoured Brigade) To the Glory of God and in the memory of all those who served with 'The Desert Rats' 1945 - 2003 (right emblem: 7th Armoured Brigade)
Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always