A CAMPAIGNER has achieved success in his efforts to install a memorial to one of the Dorset Regiment's most famous battles in the town.

The Revered Dr John Travell has been campaigning for over a year for a monument bearing the Kohima Epitaph to be erected in Dorchester in recognition of the efforts of local soldiers in the vital battle.

His work has paid off as, following support from Dorchester Town Council, it has been agreed to place a memorial outside County Hall.

There will be a service of commemoration and dedication of the new memorial to the Second Battalion of the Dorset Regiment on Wednesday, May 13 from 11am with members of the public invited to come and attend.

Dr Travell said he said his campaign began when he attended the Remembrance Sunday events at the Cenotaph in 2013 and the words of the Kohima Epitaph - When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today - were read out.

He said: "I spoke to people in the crowd afterwards and nobody had a clue about the Battle of Kohima, where it was or anything."

Dr Travell said that it made him realise that more needed to be done to educate people about the huge significance the battle had on the Second World War and locally people should be aware of the vital role of the Second Battalion of the Dorset Regiment.

He said: "I thought those words ought to be on a monument and I have been campaigning to get that to happen ever since."

Dr Travell said the battle, which ran from April 4 to July 21, 1944, was crucial in preventing the Japanese from entering into India and was one of the major turning points of the conflict.

He said: "It was a major battle, it has been recognised with Stalingrad and El-Alamein as turning the tide of the ward.

"They defeated the Japanese and they didn't win a major battle after that."

Dr Travell said that the words of the Kohima Epitaph would have been unfulfilled if something was not done locally to recognise the efforts of the Dorset troops who fought so bravely in the battle.

He said: "When you read these words 'when you go home' - home was Dorchester because the Keep was their depot.

"If nobody in Dorchester knows anything about them then we are not honouring that request that we should tell them about what happened at Kohima."

Deputy town clerk Steve Newman said the town council had been delighted to support Dr Travell in his efforts to recognise the efforts of the Dorset Regiment.

He said: "Very pleasingly this proposal has been agreed and supported by the county council and work is now in progress to lay the memorial at the front of County Hall over the next week."