Police officers who lost their lives in the First World War were remembered at a ceremony in Forest Gate yesterday.

Newham Recorder: The ceremony featured a band and flag processionThe ceremony featured a band and flag procession (Image: Archant)

A stone bearing the names of the 23 fallen officers was unveiled as part of the memorial service, which also saw speeches and wreaths laid.

Young and old joined together to mark the centenary of Britain’s entry into the First World War, as police cadets and war veterans sat side by side.

Mayors, MPs and senior police officers all gathered to pay their respects.

Flags were paraded through the station grounds to the sound of a marching band.

Newham Recorder: The ceremony featured a band and flag processionThe ceremony featured a band and flag procession (Image: Archant)

Two caskets of earth from the battlefields of the Somme and Passchendaele were interred into the ground below a sign from one of the old K Division stations.

Pc Stephanie Gentile, who helped research the officers and their lives, said: “We know their names by heart, and we probably always will.”

When war broke out, more than 200 officers from K Division - which covered what is now Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Tower Hamlets and Redbridge - enlisted to fight for their country.

A book of remembrance will be on display at Forest Gate police station to ensure the sacrifice of the 22 who never returned - plus another officer who died in the Silvertown explosion of 1917 - will never be forgotten.

Did you do anything to commemorate the First World War centenary? Send your pictures and stories to sophie.morton@archant.co.uk or call 020 8477 3834

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