English: The first ever memorial to the Army’s veterinary corps at the National Memorial Arboretum by Princess Anne.

Around 150 serving soldiers and officers, families of Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC) personnel killed in action and association members were invited to the dedication ceremony.

The corps, which has always procured, supported and treated the Army’s horses used for ceremonial purposes, has, for the last 60 years, been focused mostly on dogs.

Most RAVC soldiers and officers are engaged in the selection, training, handling and care of a range of military working dogs used to detect and apprehend intruders, warn soldiers of ambushes, search vehicles for weapons and explosives and detect concealed Improvised Explosive Devices before they kill or maim. Many soldiers and civilians owe their lives to the partnership between dog and handler.

The Royal Army Veterinary Corps continues to perform an outstanding job on operations both at home and abroad, making significant finds, saving hundreds of military and civilian lives and are in great demand worldwide. They also played a vital security role during the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Military working dogs have been recognised over the last 10 years by being awarded six Dickin Medals (*1) by the PDSA which is often called the animal’s Victoria Cross.

The RAVC was one of the very few Corps or Regiments which, until the summer of 2012, did not have its own area at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) in Staffordshire, where members who have sacrificed theirs lives while serving can be commemorated by the dedication of a tree within an allocated plot, known as a grove.

A fundraising effort by the corps and generous private donations paid for the memorial stone and benches for RAVC friends and families to pay their respects.

• Organization: Army
• Object Name: WMID-2014-017-006
• Category: MOD
• Supplemental Categories: People, Remembrance
• Keywords: NMA, National Memorial Arboretum, Royal Army Veterinary Corps, RAVC, Memorial
• Country: UK