Hertfordshire Regiment Memorial
At 11:00am on 31st July 2017 more than 200 Hertfordshire residents including many descendants of those who fought, were present just outside the village of Sint Juliaan (St Julien) in Belgium to unveil a new memorial, the first and only one to the Hertfordshire Regiment in the Great War outside the UK. This memorial was unveiled by Countess Verulam, Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire at 11am local time, 100 years to the moment that the men of the 'Herts Guards' had attacked and reached that exact location. Over the next hour a century before, the Battalion, having been unable to make further advances and facing unbroken wire and withering machine gun fire, were forced to retire, leaving behind every single Officer and 75% of Other Ranks, killed, wounded or captured. Today the memorial stands in that spot, proudly remembering the sacrifice made by our own local men that day.
The memorial was designed, supported and paid for entirely by the people of the local community. From the incredibly generous donations of local companies, organisations, family and individuals, we were able to exceed our target of £5000 to build and maintain the memorial into the future. We would like to take this opportunity to offer our most sincere thanks to all of you who took part, in one way or another.
The memorial, which contains a dedication to the Battalion for the entire Great War, not just that one day, also contains a map and explanation of why it was placed where it was and of what happened to the Battalion that day.
