A SPECIAL service was recently held at Wolfsdale United Reformed Church when the standard of the Pembrokeshire Branch of the Burma Star Association was laid up.

The Pembrokeshire Branch of the association have made the decision to lay up the standard as many of the members have passed on and those that are left are in their 90s.

The standard was originally commissioned by the late Roy Warlow of Wolfsdale and it is a fitting tribute to Roy that the standard has been laid up in Wolfsdale United Reformed Church where he was a member.

The service and dedication was presided over by the Reverend Martin Spain, Minister at Wolfsdale and also an army chaplain.

The standard was presented to the church accompanied by hymns and prayers and the congregation joined together in observing the Act of Remembrance where those from Pembrokeshire who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Burma Campaign were remembered.

The Kohima Epitaph was given by Mrs Doreen Warlow: “When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today"

The standard is now on permanent display in the church.

The Burma Star Association was officially founded on the February 26, 1951 with 2,000 founder members.

At its peak the association had some 24,000 members in the late 80’s to the mid 90’s, and now has 2,500 members worldwide, with 42 branches in the UK and four others overseas.

The broad aims of the association are to promote the comradeship experienced during the bitter fighting in the jungles and hostile terrain of Burma.

They also act to relieve the subsequent need, hardship and distress that veterans of the Burma Campaign of the 1939-45 War, or their widows and widowers who may be suffering.