THANKS to a campaign by a Stourbridge war veteran - 26 tragic soldiers have finally been honoured with a plaque on the town's war memorial around seven decades after their deaths.

Keen history fan Ray Griffiths has spent the last couple of years on a crusade to have the men from Lye, who were killed in action during WWII, commemorated on Stourbridge's cenotaph in Mary Stevens Park after discovering their names were never added.

At first he thought 22 men had been missed off the memorial but he later discovered it was in fact 26.

He made the discovery while undertaking a research project to find out more about the 49 war heroes commemorated on a stained glass window at Christ Church in Lye, which was commissioned as there wasn't enough space on Lye's cenotaph to list the town's WWII casualties.

Mr Griffiths, who lives in Pedmore, soon came to realise 11 men from Lye and Wollescote had been missed off the window and he later produced a booklet as a tribute to all 60 tragic servicemen.

But while matching up the names, he was shocked to discover 26 of the men had never even been added to Stourbridge's main war memorial.

The 88-year-old, who is chairman of the Teutoburger Wald history group, said: "It's been a progressive research project until eventually we found there were 26 not on the Stourbridge war memorial. We have endeavoured through our group to correct that and the new plaque was dedicated at this year's Remembrance service.

"There were four men named on the new plaque whose relatives had the opportunity to lay a wreath on the war memorial for the first time. It was very moving and very touching."

Among them was Pat Handley (nee Southall), from Colley Gate, whose 30-year-old father Lance Corporal John Southall, of the 3rd Monmouthshire Regiment, was killed by a sniper on April 2 1945 in Teutoburger Wald (Teutoburg Forest), Germany, when she was just three-years-old.

Mrs Handley, aged 72, who lived in Lye High Street as a child, said being able to lay a wreath for the first time for her father was a poignant moment and she added: "It feels as though you are nearer to them.

"I would have loved to have known him and often wonder what life would have been like if he'd been alive."

A £5,000 grant from Dudley Council's Stourbridge and Norton community forum has made the additions to Stourbridge's war memorial possible.

More information about the men can be found in Mr Griffith's commemorative booklet about the soldiers, which sits in Christ Church, Lye.

Although the true identity of one of the tragic heroes known only as D Hart - who is listed on the Lye window and now the Stourbridge cenotaph - continues to remain a mystery.

Anyone able to provide any clues as to who the forgotten soldier was can contact Mr Griffiths by emailing rwgriffiths@blue yonder.co.uk or 01384 392647.