Page 200 - Bugle Autumn 2014

Veterans and Bede College students attend the Annual DLI 8th/11th OCA Memorial Service
8/11 OCA Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge Ceremony
On Saturday 26 April, a pleasant though cloudy evening, the veterans of 8th/11th DLI stood beside the Gravenstafel Memorial on the lawns of the College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham University, to commemorate and remember those men of the 1/8th Bn DLI and those former students of Bede College serving with
the Bede Contingent
of the battalion who
gave their lives for their
country in World War I.
Also being remembered
were those serviceman
killed in action in World
War 1 and those in WW2, as well as later actions associated with the Durham Light Infantry, Light Infantry and Rifles. Present
at the ceremony were a number of college staff, as well as present and former students
of the college as well as a number of invited guests.
This year the Band and Bugles of the Durham Army Cadet Force provided the music for the ceremony, Last Post and Reveille and also played a Retreat on the surrounds of the Memorial.
The Gravenstafel Memorial
commemorates those former students of
the Bede Company 1/8th Bn Durham Light Infantry who were killed in the Battle of
Gravenstafel Ridge in April 1915 when that battalion went into action for the first time. Prior to World War 1 a strong link had existed between 8th Battalion and Bede College. The Gilesgate Drill Hall,
Headquarters of the Bn was located just across the road from the College, and
all physically fit students were expected
to become part of the Bede Company. These students were embodied at the start of WW1 and were thrown into battle at
the 2nd Battle of Ypres, in support of the Canadians, on Gravenstafel Ridge, where they were subject to heavy casualties and capture by the Germans. Due to their efforts the salient held, though the number of casualties meant that 8 DLI were withdrawn from the line for a period of time.
The link between the college and the Regiment is still valued and preserved
and the annual memorial service was led by the Revd Brian Rawson, padre of the Durham Light Infantry Association and the Revd Father Jonathan Lawson, the College Chaplain. An oration was given by the
The link between the college and the Regiment is still valued
The DLI wreath laid by the OCA president Maj Donald McDonald
198 REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATION NEWS
THE RIFLES