War Graves Commission
celebrates 90th anniversary with photographic exhibition
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
News Release (103/2007) issued by The Government News Network on 22
May 2007
To mark the 90th
anniversary of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission the Defence
Secretary, Des Browne, helped launch a photographic exhibition and
a new illustrated history yesterday.
The Remembered exhibition features photographs by the
award-winning photographer Brian Harris. The accompanying
illustrated history book also contains more than 40 images from
the Commission's own archives and a foreword by Ian Hislop.
Among the first to view the exhibition and the book was Henry
Allingham, Britain's oldest man and our oldest surviving
First World War veteran aged 110-years-old.
The War Graves Commission was established in 1917 and is
responsible for marking and maintaining the graves of Commonwealth
personnel who died during the two World Wars.
Secretary of State for Defence and Chairman of the War Graves
Commission, Des Browne, said:
"The work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission spans
the globe. Its staff design, build, record, tend, and maintain
graves and memorials in 150 countries.
"The Commission has an almost impossible task to remember in
perpetuity 1.7 million men and women from across the Commonwealth
who offered their lives in service during the great wars of the
last century. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
"This exhibition, the art, the book, and the history of the
Commission, are fitting tributes - evocative reminders of
sacrifice, courage and honour."
Notes to Editors:
1. For more information visit the website http://www.mod.uk
2. The Remembered photographic exhibition is on show at Canada
House in Trafalgar Square until 16 July. Entry is free to the public.