Regimental War Memorial Cross
At the top of Frenchgate in Richmond, North Yorkshire. It was dedicated on 13 July 1921.
The Bell Memorial, France
The Bell Memorial was dedicated in 2000 as a tribute to the bravery of Second Lieutenant Donald Simpson Bell VC and the men of his Battalion who gave their lives fighting in and around Contalmaison during the battle of the Somme 1916.
Hollis Memorials
In 2006 a tram stop on a Normandy beach, mistaken for a German pillbox on D Day, was unveiled as a memorial to Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis VC and the men of the Green Howards.
Aerial photographs taken before the landings showed what looked like a small German fortification at La Rivière, adjacent to Gold Beach. CSM Hollis later recalled: “As we were coming in I lifted a stripped Lewis gun off the floor of the landing craft and pelted a pillbox with a full pan of ammunition”. Only on advancing over the beach did the men discover that it was ‘only a bloody tram-stop’.
During the fighting on D Day, CSM Hollis earned the only Victoria Cross to be awarded that day.
He gained it for two actions of supreme valour, firstly for clearing a pillbox and trenches north of Ver-sur-Mer, and secondly for rescuing his comrades under fire in the village of Crépon.
The memorial (image courtesy of Tom Wharton) is in front of The Dorman Museum.
It also honours Green Howards soldiers who took part in the D Day invasion of France, and all Victoria Cross recipients from the regiment.
The Crépon Memorial, France
On the 26th October 1996 His Majesty Harold V, King of Norway unveiled a new memorial to commemorate the Regiment’s role in the Second World War and the 6th and 7th Battalion’s Normandy Campaign in particular.
The Mayor and the people of Crépon kindly provided a superb site.
The sculptor, James Butler RA, created the weary figure of a soldier of the 6th or 7th Battalion, who, by D-Day, could have served at Dunkirk, in the Western Desert and Sicily.
Victoria Cross paving stones
In August 2013, the UK government announced a campaign to honour Victoria Cross recipients from the First World War. Commemorative paving stones were laid in the birth place of Victoria Cross recipients to honour their bravery and provide a lasting legacy of local heroes within communities.
A total of 628 Victoria Crosses were awarded during the First World War, of which 145 were awarded to servicemen who fought for Britain, but were born overseas. 13 men from The Yorkshire Regiment, as The Green Howards were officially known at the time, were awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War.
National Memorial Arboretum
A Green Howards memorial stone was dedicated at the arboretum on 19th September 2019. The creation of the stone was a Green Howards Association project, made possible through donations and fundraising.
South African war memorial
Unveiled on 25 May 1904, the polished red granite obelisk was erected in memory of members of the regiment who lost their lives in the South African war, 1899 to 1902. Following the ceremony the care of the monument was handed over to the Lord Mayor of York for its safe keeping in perpetuity. Original located in an area of open space, the development of the city means that the memorial is now in the midst of the busy interchange near Skeldergate Bridge.