I HAVE just received my canal zone medal. It is great and I am very proud to have served in the 1st Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment from 1952-4.

From Kabrit Point we used to do route marches in the heat.

At the bottom of the road leading to the camp the band used to wait and we followed them to the camp guardhouse playing 'Here Comes The First East Lancs' -- the Regimental March.

We used to pick up and march like we were on the parade ground.

They used to say the Regiment has a soul. So many young lads have fought and died under that flag.

I remember we were on manoeuvres driving at night with no lights allowed, I was driving in a Land Rover. The ration truck got stuck in the soft sand and a young lad from Burnley called Frank Fullalove, driving a Bren Gun carrier stopped to tow it out. He got it safety out and set off to catch up the column.

The next morning he had disappeared. We found his carrier upside down under a small cliff.

Frank and four lads were crushed dead under the carrier. We buried them in Fayed 'the corner of a foreign field that is forever England's'.

These are the lads who should have a medal and are the soul of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

D H ASPDEN, Butts Mount, Great Harwood.