A MEMORIAL is to be unveiled in France this weekend in memory of brave Worcestershire soldiers who liberated Normandy towns in the Second World War.

Stalwart Kidderminster councillor Peter Carter will unveil a sculpture to 26 soldiers who died in a heroic battle on the banks of the River Seine to liberate the town of Vernon and village of Vernonnet on August 27, 1944.

Mr Carter, who is chairman of Worcestershire County Council, will join about 40 veterans of the battle, including those from Wyre Forest, at the ceremony in Vernon - 30 miles west of Paris.

The councillor, who is also vice-president of the Worcestershire Regimental Association, said it was a tremendous honour to unveil the memorial hewn from a tonne of Malvern rock.

Referring to the regiment's valour at the battle, which formed part of Operation Neptune - the Seine crossing, Mr Carter will say at the ceremony on Sunday: "One will never be able to quantify the sacrifices of their achievements but it was actions like the one that occurred here so many years ago that helped to change the course of history - not only for your country and mine but that of Europe and the world."

The memorial marks the day the regiment, along with 214 Brigade of the 43rd Wessex Division, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and the Somerset Light Infantry, was ordered to advance through the steeply sloped and heavily wooded terrain of the Forest of Vernon.

The Worcestershire Regiment was at the centre of the bridgehead across the Seine from Vernon to Vernonnet.

After crossing the river under heavy gunfire it met head-on the counter-attack by Battle Group Schrader supported by at least two formidable and feared Tiger tanks.

By the time the counter-attack had been stopped 26 soldiers were dead and 65 wounded out of 553 men of the regiment who set off that morning.

The memorial will be unveiled in a lay-by on the ill-fated road where the battalion established its headquarters during the battle.

It has since been referred to in military histories as "The Worcester Lay-by".

Veterans from the battalion sought out the lay-by, in which stood a monument to a French aristocratic family, on a visit two years ago.

It has been by-passed by a new road but the lay-by has been designated as a protected site because the monument still stands there.

Now after talks with local historians and the Mayor of Vernon the memorial stone will be unveiled.

A bugler from the regiment will play The Last Post and the regiment will lay a Union Jack on the stone memorial at the ceremony.