Long Range Desert Group - Legacy

Legacy

The Long Range Desert Group was disbanded at the end of the Second World War. The only comparable British Army units today are the Mobility troops of the Special Air Service. Each of the regular army Special Air Service squadrons has a Mobility troop. Like the LRDG, they are specialists in using vehicles, trained in an advanced level of motor mechanics to fix any problem with their vehicles, and are experts in desert warfare.

The Long Range Desert Group are one of the Second World War units represented by the Special Air Service Association. Other wartime units represented include all the SAS regiments, the Special Raiding Squadron, the Special Boat Service (Wartime), the Phantom Signal Squadron, the Raiding Support Regiment and the Greek Sacred Squadron.

The New Zealand Army erected a permanent memorial to the LRDG at the New Zealand Special Air Service barracks, in the Papakura Military Camp. On 7 August 2009, two honour boards containing details of every New Zealand soldier who served in the LRDG were unveiled.

One of the LRDG's Chevrolet WB trucks is displayed in the Imperial War Museum in London. It was presented to the museum by the LRDG Association, after being recovered from the Libyan desert in 1983 by David Lloyd Owen, by then a retired Major General and chairman of the Association. It is preserved in the condition in which it was discovered, rusted but largely intact.