FORMER servicemen will gather at the weekend to honour the outstanding bravery of a regiment's old soldiers.

Durham Light Infantry veterans will congregate for a ceremony to mark the unveiling of a new roll of honour mounted in the grounds of the regimental museum.

The specially-hewn sandstone block, from a Teesdale quarry, is inscribed with the names of all 11 DLI Victoria Cross holders. It also carries a replica Victoria Cross and DLI badge encapsulated in glass bubbles, set into the stone at Sunderland's National Glass Centre.

About 300 former servicemen and members of the public are expected at Saturday's ceremony at Durham's DLI Museum.

Members of the 68th Foot Re-Enactment Society will form a guard of honour as Brigadier Robin MacGregor-Oakford unveils the stone near the museum entrance.

Standards from 14 regimental association branches will be paraded, with musical backing from the Borneo Band of the 1st DLI Army Cadet Force.

The only surviving DLI VC winner, Captain Richard Annand, is guest of honour, joined by County Durham's Lord Lieutenant, Sir Paul Nicholson, county council chairman Charles Magee.

After the stone is unveiled the Reverend Brian Rawson will conduct a short service followed by bugles sounding the Last Post and Reveille.

Brigadier MacGregor-Oakford and Captain Annand will then take the salute in a march past of guests.

The ceremony marks the end of an eight-year bid to recognise the deeds of the regiment's VC holders by the veterans' group, The Faithful Inkerman Dinner Club, who paid for the tribute.

It began when the unmarked grave of the first DLI Victoria Cross winner, Private Thomas Kenny, was discovered in Wingate Cemetery.

Club chairman Colin Armstrong said: "We were asked to raise money for a headstone and then we decided it would be a good idea to have a plaque in honour of all the VC holders."

Saturday's ceremony begins at 10.45am.