soldiers from the borough’s Royal Anglian Regiment received a rare honour when a huge memorial dedicated to them was unveiled at the Imperial War Museum.

The statue and wall commemorating the fallen is an honour which few regiments can boast and pays tribute to our own Dagenham hero, Private Tony Rawson.

Pte Rawson, 27, was killed serving his country in Afghanistan’s Helmand province on August 10, 2007.

He was taking part in a fighting patrol when he died and was buried with full military honours at Eastbrookend Cemetery after a service at Dagenham Parish Church.

Tony, known as “Nicey” Rawson because of his likeable personality, was honoured alongside his colleagues from the Royal Anglian Regiment at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford last weekend.

His mother, Ann Williams, was invited to attend the special day with the rest of the family.

“I was so proud to be there,” she said. “It really is a wonderful thing for the regiment.

“Sadly they have lost many of their friends in Afghanistan this year and I think it’s a great thing to do for those men and women who are so bravely fighting for their country.”

Ann added: “It was a wonderful day for our whole family. We had a chaperone, who was a young soldier from Tony’s regiment, and we got taken for a tour of the museum after the ceremony. Tony’s nan even got to sit in a tank!”

The memorial commemorates 78 Royal Anglian soldiers who have lost their lives in the line of duty since 1959 in a variety of conflicts. Hundreds of members from all 78 families travelled from all over the globe.

The Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment, His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester, also attended and laid a wreath.

Mayor of Barking & Dagenham, Cllr Nirmal Singh Gill, who has adopted Help for Heroes as his charity, also attended. The regiment has recruited many soldiers from the area and was given the freedom of the borough.

The memorial was designed by architect Stephen Oliver of Rodney Melville & Partners and features a bronze statue by sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley.

The idea for the memorial was first born in 2007 when the regiment launched an appeal to raise money to support its wounded and their families.

It also helped to build the memorial to the nine soldiers from the battalion killed in action during the tour in which Pte Rawson died. More than �340,000 was raised to which the council contributed �1,000.