VETERANS of a major battle in the Second World War laid wreaths in York in memory of those who died.

Eleven former servicemen who fought in the Battle of Kohima, who are now in their nineties, were joined by Gurkha soldiers from 2 Signal Regiment in Dean's Gardens next to York Minster yesterday to lay the poppy wreaths.

The battle of Kohima was fought in North East India between April 4 and June 22, 1944, and almost 4,000 British and Indian soldiers lost their lives when Allied Forces prevented the Japanese army advancing in Asia, turning the tide of the Burma campaign.

The Reverend Jason Clarke, Padre to 2 Signal Regiment, and Precentor at York Minster, the Reverend Canon Peter Moger, led the service by the stone monument to the fallen.

The veterans held a minute's silence to remember the fallen and a bugler played the Last Post and Reveille at the service, which was organised by the Kohima Educational Trust and 2 Signal Regiment and York Garrison.

They also attended a reception at Imphal Barracks in Fulford Road, where some visited the Kohima Museum.