They stand tall among the British army's biggest heroes and their legacy has rung proudly through the decades.

Eastern Daily Press: Scenes from a Desert Rats Memorial Service at High Ash Camp in Mundford earlier this year. Picture: Matthew Usher.Scenes from a Desert Rats Memorial Service at High Ash Camp in Mundford earlier this year. Picture: Matthew Usher. (Image: © ARCHANT NORFOLK 2016)

And on Sunday, hundreds of people will gather at a service of remembrance for the Desert Rats at High Ash, near Mundford.

Desert Rats Association trumpeter and membership secretary Bill Wells said the service would start at 10.30am and the Last Post would be played at 11am.

Mr Wells said the Desert Rats, officially the British 7th Armoured Division, had been central to defeating Germany in the Second World War, having formed in the desert of North Africa.

He said: 'It was they that drove Hitler back.

'They defeated him at El Alamein and they made a great contribution to the Allied forces, pushing them up through Italy and all the way to Berlin.'

Mr Wells said major Simon Copley-Smith, who took over as association president from Rodney Scott at the end of 2015, would lead the service.

He said as happened last year, hundreds of people, many whose fathers or grandfathers were members of the Desert Rats, planned to ride scooters to the service.

Mr Wells said 'Warrant Officer' Laddie, a rough Collie who is the association's mascot, would also take part for the final time before he retires.