A SPECIAL ceremony is taking place to recognise the addition of more than half a dozen names to Dunbar War Memorial.

About 200 brave men and women who lost their lives in either the First or Second World Wars are already listed on the town’s memorial.

Research has been carried out over the last two years to identify others who had a connection to the town and could potentially be added.

Herbert Coutts of the town’s community council has been at the heart of the research, which will see 16 names added to the memorial on the town’s Marine Road.

A rededication ceremony is taking place on Monday at 10.30am, with East Lothian’s Provost John McMillan and the county’s Lord Lieutenant Michael Williams among those planning to attend.

Mr Coutts said: “We are trying to make it as different as we can from the Remembrance Sunday event following not that long after it on November 10.”

Mr McMillan praised the work of those behind the research and was looking forward to the ceremony.

He said: “I think it is very important in terms of recognising members of our community.”

Youngsters from Dunbar Grammar School and Dunbar Primary School will also attend, as well as a piper and bugler.

Last year, Army Captain George William Ryland Griffin – known as Bill – was finally added to the memorial. He was killed during active service in France on August 10, 1944, aged just 25.

Since then, further research has been carried out, with 11 names from the First World War and a further five from the Second World War to be added to the memorial.

James Burns, Henry George Congdon, Thomas Fairbairn Frater, Louis Frederick Kerridge, John Mellis Macdonald, Hugh McKie, Frederick Cecil Reed, Christopher Robertson, Percival Sudworth, David James Thomson and Alfred Edward Turnbull all had links to the town and lost their lives as a result of the First World War.

John Minto Clarke, William Edward Davies, William David Gillespie, James Gray and John Henry Evershed Wright died as a result of the Second World War.

The names, accompanied by a short citation, will be read aloud by six students from the Grammar School, two of whom are great granddaughters of John Minto Clark and James Gray.