Chelsea Pensioners are among those to be commemorated by the Royal Mint as the theme of the 2016 £2 coin pays tribute to Army ‘Pals’ Battalions who fought in First World War.
Pals Battalions were set up to allow friends, colleagues, neighbours and team mates to fight side by side as up to 30,000 people volunteered a day to protect their country.
The coin depicts three pals in the futuristic style of CRW Nevison, who served the Friends Ambulance Unit and the Royal Medical Corps before being appointed an official war artist in 1917.
The Royal Mint’s Director of Commemorative Coin Anne Jessopp, said: “We wanted to capture the spirit of the Pals Battalions and the camaraderie of the Army recruits who sacrificed their lives to defend their country, as well as the Army’s vital role in the First World War.”
The coins honour the part of the Army in the conflict and the spirit of camaraderie demonstrated by the Pals, whose bravery had a devastating affect on the communities they left behind.
In 2014 the commemorative coin depicted the outbreak of war, and last year’s coin recognised the vital role of the Royal Navy in the Great War.
The coin, designed by Liverpool creative consultants Uniform, is the third of five to mark in a project in conjunction with Imperial War Museums to honour the centenary of the First World War.
Around five million of these are expected to enter circulation this year, but the design has already been made on gold proof, silver proof and silver proof piedfort commemorative editions of the coin.
