Page 446 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
CHAPTER 26
The RAVC Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire
Soon after his arrival as the Regimental Secretary RAVC in August 2011, one of Lieutenant Colonel Abby DuBaree’s main objectives was to establish an RAVC presence at the National Memorial Ar- boretum (NMA), to commemorate those mem- bers of the Corps who had sacrificed their lives in past conflicts.
The RAVC is an integral part of the Army Medical Services (AMS) and the other three Corps, namely the RAMC, RADC and QARANC, already had their own memorials at the NMA. However, knowing that the RAVC were not as wealthy as the other sister Corps of the AMS, Abby knew that whatever was decided by the RAVC Council would have to be self-funded and delivered frugally.
His first move was to meet up with the Curator of the NMA, Mr Paul Kennedy, to secure a plot for the RAVC. The Corps RSM, Adie Davies, Mr Roger Whittle and Abby DuBaree met with Mr Kennedy who was very willing to assist with the project, especially as the NMA was interested in a RAVC presence there to complete the AMS Group.
Once the RAVC plot had been identified, the pressure kicked in. There was now a need to think of a suitable design for the memorial, and perhaps more importantly, how the project would be funded. Abby sat down with Major Iain Rose at his desk one morning and, together, they came up with the idea for the memorial, literally on a blank sheet of A4 size paper.
They knew that it would have to include an RAVC Badge as a starter, and then, knowing that they wanted to depict the epoque before and during World War One, they decided that it should include the Army Veterinary Corps (AVC) badge to show the Corps prior to the Royal Warrant being bestowed upon us by King George V in 1918. Major Rose then proposed that we should show the caring side of our work in the RAVC by having a picture of a horse being tended by a Veterinary Officer, and also a picture of a Military Working Dog with a handler on the opposite side which would depict our main focus following World War Two. There will be the obvious wordings/inscrip-
tions, which Colonel Neil Smith, as Director Army Veterinary and Remount Services, was asked to produce. And finally, there would be a bench on either side of the memorial for the older visitors to take a rest and a silent moment while contem- plating and remembering our past heroes.
Before proceeding, the Regimental Secretary had to present his idea to the RAVC Council, which was chaired by the Colonel Commandant, Lt Gen James Everard CBE. Needless to say, the Council gave their full approval to the plan, adding some minor alterations.
The next step was to present the plan at the RAVC Association AGM during the next Corps weekend, which was in September 2012. This would also be the occasion to launch an appeal to raise the funds needed to make the memorial a reality. In the meantime, Abby met one of the contractor/stonemason, Mr Keith Rackham, who was well known at the NMA, and well acquainted with the ground and working in that special environment. Mr Rackham was very keen to be involved in the project, and although the opening gambit was very much along the lines of: “The RAVC do not have much money”, Keith was very understanding and kept his word all along, by charging us the minimum for the job. And in addition to that, his generosity extended to offering to complete the inscriptions on the memorial stone free of charge. He wanted that to be his personal donation towards the Appeal.
At the Association AGM, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Military Working Dog Regiment (RAVC) from Germany, Lt Col Andrew Devey MBE, raised his hand and offered the first £2,000 from his Regiment. Over the next few months, the appeal gathered pace, and donations continued to arrive from Association members with money being raised in a variety of inventive ways. These included, holding quiz nights in their local pub, a mother of one of our serving soldiers raised £800 from local events, and funds raised from the Liam Tasker Annual Memorial rugby match at Melton
438