Palmerston North (pop.80,000) in the lower North Island. Alliances An alliance between the 4th (Waikato) Mounted Rifles and the British 4/7th Royal Dragoons (today the Royal Dragoon Guards) was formed in 1926. This alliance was inherited by QAMR when Wai/WEC Squadron was transferred to the 6th Battalion (Hauraki) RNZIR in 1999. An alliance between the RNZAC and the British Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) was formed in 1966. In January 1967, in recognition of this alliance, Her Majesty The Queen (as Captain-General of the RNZAC and Colonel-in-Chief of the RTR) gave her approval for members of the RNZAC to wear the RTR's tank arm badge. Regimental Association Following the successful bid to restore the WMR title to the Squadron, members of the WMR Regimental Association (founded in 1946) amended their Rules in 2004 to admit and welcome past and serving personnel of the Squadron as members of the Association. Some Squadron personnel were also invited to join the Association's committee. Today there are about 140 members, of whom roughly one third are currently serving in WMR. Regimental history: Waikato Troopers In 2007 the first complete history of WMR, Waikato Troopers, was written and published by Richard Stowers, a military historian and author living in Hamilton. The foreword to Waikato Troopers was written by Lieutenant General Mateparae (then Chief of the Defence Force and now Governor-General of New Zealand). In it he wrote: "New Zealand has a tradition of military service that, in large part, rests on the service of citizen soldiers in both peace and war. The men of the Waikato Mounted Rifles represent that tradition admirably." In memoriam The Government declared 2006 to be the 'Year of the Veteran' and established a Community Grants Fund. The WMR Regimental Association successfully applied for funding to enable a number of memorial plaques to be commissioned, dedicated to the memory of former comrades who lost their lives in conflicts overseas. Rather than a single memorial, the Association preferred the idea of placing these plaques in churches and public grounds in settlements and towns in the heart of the Waikato, where WMR still recruits and trains today. Between 2007 and 2010 eight plaques were dedicated and unveiled in Waerenga, Te Kauwhata, Te Awamutu (2), Hamilton (2) and Cambridge (2). Beneath the WMR title and badge, the inscription on each plaque reads: "In memory of those from this district [or town/city, as appropriate] who lost