Ministry of Defence
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War Graves Commission celebrates 90th anniversary with photographic exhibition
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.
