A local forces veteran has launched a new project to honour those soldiers in BAME communities who fought in both world wars as well as modern conflicts.

Oz Sadiq from South Bank, retired from army duty this summer but has been working with members of the local community to promote tolerance and community cohesion for the past six years.

This Remembrance Sunday, he launched the Tees Valley BAME Remembrance and Memorial Project, which he hopes will finally give the soldiers from Commonwealth countries who fought and died in battle are recognised for their sacrifice.

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Oz, 55, hopes to raise enough money to build a war memorial in Middlesbrough's Albert Park, commemorating those international soldiers from different religions and cultures.

He is inspired by existing war memorials in Wolverhampton and Brixton, which commemorate Sikh and African Caribbean soldiers respectively.

He said: "It's important that our forefathers who fought and died are remembered.

"Quite often they were erased from history, their names aren't on a lot of cenotaphs and some were buried in mass graves rather than their own personal war graves."

"I've been going into schools to teach children about those soldiers from the Commonwealth who served in both World Wars because it's not really covered on the history curriculum which is a big shame."

Oz served in the Yorkshire Regiment for 38 years after joining the army at the age of 17.

He has been working as a BAME community director on Teesside and works with different religious organisations to raise awareness about the soldiers from their communities.

Over the past five years, he has seen an increase in people from different communities including Sikh, Muslim, Hindu and many others attending Remembrance services.

Representative of the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities laying wreaths on Remembrance Sunday
Multi faith delegates laying wreaths at Middlesbrough Cenotaph

Last year he organised his own socially distanced service with a leader from the local Sikh community carrying out the religious part of the ceremony.

When he launched his project, Oz had 30 representatives from different communities in the area, who laid wreaths at Middlesbrough cenotaph.

This year he was joined by delegates from a variety of faiths as well as international University students and TARIF - Teesside Against Racism, Islamophobia & Fascism.

He hopes the increasing number of interest from the communities he works with will help him when getting support and funding for the war memorial.

Oz added: "It'll take roughly three to five years but we hope to get local BAME communities involved so they can organise their own fundraising and we're also looking to get grants so we can get the memorial up and running as soon as we can."

"It'll operate through a Facebook page where I'm going to invite people to post photos of their families who served in the armed forces and I'm hoping to set up an exhibition of the pictures at the next Remembrance Sunday service in 2022."

Representatives from Sikh temples, a local author and founder of Teesside Against Racism, Islamophobia and Fascism
L-R: Inderjeeet Singh (Thornaby Sikh Temple), Fatehjeet Singh (Middlesbrough Sikh Temple), Khadim Hussain (Local author) and Saeed Hussain (TARIF)

Now the Tees Valley BAME Remembrance and Memorial Project has been launched, Oz hopes that the project is able to raise awareness of the soldiers from all different communities and make sure their stories are finally told properly.

The ex-soldier also works with local organisations such as The Junction Project, who help young people from minority backgrounds, including the Gypsy Roma Traveller Community, stay out of knife crime by taking up boxing.