THE service held in Christ Church Cathedral’s military chapel is a poignant and important tribute to the sacrifice that so many county men made during the world wars.

Once every two months, the names of 20 soldiers from Oxfordshire regiments who gave their lives are read out.

The tribute is a small one but every bit as important as the repatriation services held for soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

For the families of fallen soldiers, like the Bakers, it means so much to know that more than 60 years on, the sacrifice their loved one made for this country has not been forgotten.

Bruce Baker never met his father Robert – his mother was pregnant when Robert was killed in a glider crash on the Dutch German border.

That sacrifice in March 1945 did not end with the war, and we owe his family, and thousands of families like them, an unpayable debt of gratitude.

Oxfordshire lost so many men in the wars that service organisers will not want for names to read out for years to come.

Those soldiers should never be forgotten and this special service will ensure they are not.