Paignton Airborne Forces Memorial with standard bearers, March 2010

Inspired by two memorial stones at Torre Abbey, Andy Welsh suggested to the South Devon Branch of the PRA that a similar stone was erected in Torbay to honour the men from the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces who have died in conflict. The branch wholeheartedly backed the idea and from this small acorn grew the memorial unveiled on Sunday 28 March 2010 in Paignton, during a short service and ceremony.

The Cornish granite memorial mounted on a plinth contains the inscription ‘In memory of the men from the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces who have given their lives in conflict 1940 to the present day’. The three bronze badges on the memorial (Parachute Regiment, SAS and Pegasus) were handcarved and cast in Scotland. The costs for the memorial were met entirely by the South Devon Branch PRA which is rightly proud of its achievement.