100th anniversary of the Epping war memorial Wreaths were laid and the names of the fallen who are remembered on plaques on the memorial on the Town Green were read recently at a rededication service to mark the 100th anniversary of the Epping war memorial. Wreaths were laid and the names of the fallen who are remembered on plaques on the memorial on the Town Green were read at the service. John Duffell, a town councillor and Royal British Legion Remembrance Day organiser, said: "At the end of the First World War the people of Epping looked for a suitable way to commemorate the young men from the town who had given their lives for their country. "After much discussion a cross bearing the names of the Fallen was chosen. It was originally going to be erected in the market place, but it was decided that the town green offered a more prominent position." The £600 cost was raised by public subscription. The memorial was unveiled and dedicated on Sunday 8th May 1921. Mr Duffell said: "Sadly it was necessary to add more names after the Second World War. Two new tablets were fixed to the memorial and these were unveiled in November 1948. "In 2004, it was discovered that some names from the First World War were not included and these were added. More from the Second World War were added in 2009.” "Another name, added in 2009, was that of Georgie Sparks who had lost his life in Afghanistan the previous year." Mr Duffell added: "This memorial is now the focal point for Remembrance in Epping. "There are 150 men from the town listed on the memorial. They fought and died in some of the most famous battles in history - Ypres, Loos, Gallipoli, Jutland, the Somme, Passchendaele and Arras in the First World War, and Dunkirk, El Alamein, Normandy, the crossing of the Rhine and Burma in the Second World War. "They are buried or commemorated in countries across the globe but on here they are all together." Wreaths were laid by Mr Pegrum, Mr Wright, Mr Duffell, Freemen of Epping Ruth Benjamin and John Batchelor, and Epping Town Council's Young Townspeople of the Year Julie Turrell and George Sack. The service included a two-minute silence. service.
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