A GROUP of Desert Rats veterans were reunited for perhaps the final time as they gave their standard flags a final resting place.

The 8th Army Veterans Association disbanded at the end of last year following the 60th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein.

Today about 30 veterans, many of whom are now aged in their 80s, joined together at a special ceremony to hand over their standard flags to the Imperial War Museum North in Trafford, Manchester.

Among the guests were Lord Montgomery, son of Field Marshal Montgomery who led the Desert Rats to victory in one of the most important battles of the Second World War.

The battle was widely regarded as one of the turning point of the War and caused Prime Minister Winston Churchill to write: "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein, we never had a defeat."

At the time, church bells rang out across Britain to mark the 1942 victory, the first major defeat inflicted on the Axis powers.

Today Association patron Lord Montgomery said it was fitting that the national veterans association's standards were being given a final resting place in the north west of England, where he and the association's members had very strong ties.

It was also right that they were to go on display in a "great new museum" dedicated to teaching young people of the horrors of the war and why they should not be repeated, he added.

"The folly of politicians brings about the death and destruction of so many lives," he said.

Association vice-chairman Alf Davies said it was a very sad day after seeing the numbers attending annual reunions fall from several thousands just a decade ago to just 200 last year.

"Our grandchildren have taken more pride than our sons and daughters. They are suddenly beginning to realise the importance of what we achieved.

"We hope that these standards will remind them of that."