Sixty years on, a memorial is dedicated to soldiers who drowned as they trained for war.

DOWN below, the river rushes over the weir, falling so fast that its noise almost drowns out the lament of the bugle some 30ft above.

It was at the weir, nearly 60 years ago, that the river drowned out ten young lives. They were washed away during an Army exercise as the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) prepared for one of the final acts of the Second World War, the crossing of the Rhine, in Germany.

Yesterday, a stone memorial was placed beside the River Coquet, near Guyzance, in Northumberland, where the 18-year-olds, from Durham and Yorkshire, perished on January 17, 1945.

They were at camp at nearby Felton and were practising for the canals and rivers of north-west Europe, which were expected to be within the Allies grasp within weeks.

It is said that they went to the isolated, tree-lined riverbank a couple of days earlier, but their officers were warned off by a couple of locals because the river was in flood.

It was still in spate when they returned with their canvas collapsible boats.

The platoon commander apparently got his boat across but, realising the dangers, he sent a private back to stop the exercise.

It was too late. The other boats had already been launched. One was swept a mile downstream and tossed over the weir.

Yesterday, passing postman Alan Stobbs heard the swirl of the pipes and realised the ceremony must have been connected to a disaster his uncle had sometimes spoken of.

By phone from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, Joe Clarkson, now 88 but then in the DLI, told how he had been despatched from the camp the following day to recover the bodies.

"I was in the water five hours," he said. "It was in dreadful turmoil and got worse all that day. They were trapped underneath the weir. A horrible mess. I'd known them all for about three months."

At the ceremony was Malcolm Lee, fresh from Australia, where he has lived for 30 years. Now 69, he was in school near Skipton, North Yorkshire, when his father came to tell him of the death of his uncle, Kenneth, who was seven years his senior.

"I was glad to see my dad, as he was in the RAF. They took me into an office and explained Kenneth had been crossing a fast-flowing river and his boat had overturned," he said.

"I remember playing with Kenneth in an air-raid shelter at my grandmother's house. He used to make me lead soldiers and horsemen."

The disaster was kept quiet at the time, and many of the survivors were quickly spread around Europe.

It was only ten years ago that the site was marked with a wooden cross.

The Darlington and Aycliffe Branch of the DLI Association wanted something more permanent.

Secretary Bernard Seyburn asked Asda about a large stone block at the Stockton supermarket that was going spare during a refurbishment. The supermarket agreed, and assisted with the transportation, and yesterday DLI association branch president, Colonel Kit Bartram, unveiled the memorial high above the Coquet.

"It's been very exciting to see the spot, and very emotional," said Mr Lee. "I really appreciate what has been done because, to the families, it feels that these lads had just been forgotten."

Ten remembered by Guyzance memorial

L-Cpl Mark Fredlieb 18, of Sheffield

Pte Norman Ashton 18, of Castleford

Pte Percy Clements 18, of West Hartlepool

Pte Edwin King 18, of Todmorden

Pte Kenneth Lee 18, of Bradford

Pte Alexander Leighton 18, of Annfield Plain

Pte Maurice Peddelty 18, of Evenwood, County Durham

Pte John Wilson of Newcastle

Pte Ronald "Bud" Winteringham 18, of York

Pte Alfred Yates of Dean Bank, Ferryhill