A plan to create a woodland memorial to the Welsh soldiers who died in one of World War I’s bloodiest battles is a step closer to becoming a reality.
Bridgend Town Council has unanimously decided to co-opt a military adviser to drive the Mametz Wood project forward to its planned completion in 2016.
Major Wayne Morgan, of the Bridgend branch of the Royal British Legion and Bridgend Veterans’ Association, will help to develop plans alongside a consultant researcher who will be appointed and paid for by Bridgend Town Council.
Speaking at Monday night’s meeting of the town council Major Morgan, who will report to a military advisory committee of council members, said: “Mametz Wood, as you know, is quite a significant piece of work and it’s broken down into stages.
“I volunteered to move that project forward and that is still the aim.
“I would like to see it come to fruition even if it takes five years or longer. I am fully prepared to move that project forward with the consultants or researchers and you have my assurance on that.”
The July 1916 battle for control of Mametz Wood, the major woodland on the Somme, has gone down in history as one of the most bloody of the war, claiming the lives of around 4,000 soldiers.
It was fought by the 38th Division, made up of Welsh regiments, including war poet Siegfried Sassoon, an officer in the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
He wrote that the wood was a “menacing wall of doom”.
A Welsh dragon memorial now stands at Mametz Wood and the town council hopes to recreate that in Bridgend alongside a woodland area at Newbridge Fields in the town, which could contain a signposted pathway representing the battle plan.
