LONDON, Nov 6: Queen Elizabeth II acknowledged on Wednesday Britain’s debt to almost five million Indian, Pakistani, African and Caribbean volunteers who served in World War I and II, unveiling the first ever memorial to them.

The Memorial Gates — four pillars surmounted by golden urns flanking Constitution Hill which runs through Saint James’s Park in central London — was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth in a ceremony many felt was long overdue.

“It should have come much earlier but it’s a wonderful historical memorial,” said Major Devinder Sembra, 80, a bearded veteran of conflicts in Burma, Saigon and Japan.

The turbaned Indian, wearing several medals on his chest, said that “at least it (the memorial) had come up and we’ll be remembered.”—AFP