Tree symbolises nations' unity

Tree symbolises nations' unity

The tree was planted in Bury St Edmunds' Abbey Gardens

The special relationship between Britain and America was marked at a memorial ceremony in Suffolk on Friday.

A Scots pine was planted in Bury St Edmunds' Abbey Gardens in memory of those who have died in terrorist attacks.

As the Honour Guard from RAF Lakenheath stood nearby, a plaque saying "We shall never forget" was placed in the newly-dug soil.

The idea for this Remembrance Tree came from Riki Evans Johnson, head of the East Anglia American Club, who was in New York on 11 September.

"I came back here and I just had an idea that maybe there was something we could do to remember that particular day - there were so many American and British lives lost.

"It is somewhere people can come and reflect, but also we wanted to form a bond between our two countries."

Thoughts of the current conflict were not far from people's minds

The US Ambassador to Britain sent a message of support to be read at the ceremony.

"The citizens of our two nations have faced horror together more than once and whatever may lie ahead in today's uncertain world, the American looks towards their UK cousins as the shining example of true friends."

The current conflict which binds Britain and America together was on everybody's mind.

"As we were speaking, as this ceremony went ahead, men and women from the US and UK were in the Gulf, defending freedom, and what we saw and heard today was tremendously powerful and this tree is a symbol of that," said Bury St Edmunds MP David Ruffley.