VETERANS will gather today to unveil a memorial plinth at the site of the former Cowley Barracks.
Members of the Oxford branch of the Royal Green Jackets will be at the site in James Wolfe Road where student blocks have been built for Oxford Brookes University.
Two old barrack blocks off Hollow Way were demolished and Terry Roper, chairman of the Oxford branch of the Royal Green Jackets Association, wanted a lasting memorial to the barracks – once the base of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
Mr Roper said: “A memorial plinth will be unveiled to the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on the former site of Cowley Barracks, its regimental depot from 1876 to 1958.
“The unveiling will be carried out by General Bob Pascoe, and Private Reg Charles, a Normandy veteran.”
Mr Roper’s brother Gordon, from Garsington, was a Lance Corporal in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and was there in 1958 for his National Service.
There were protests when the old barracks keep was knocked down in the 1970s. The Ox and Bucks Light Infantry became the Royal Green Jackets which then became The Rifles.
The ceremony will take place at 2.45pm. Developers Unite Students and Oxford Brookes staff will also attend.
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