6 July 2005
Penning joins All Parliament War Graves Group.
Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead constituency, has joined the Parliamentary War Graves Group. This group actively works with the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office to protect British war graves around the world not protected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and recently applied pressure on the Belgium government over their plans to build a new road through a World War 1 battlefield at Passendale. It was at Passendale in November 1917 that a major battle took place with some 260,000 casualties, many of whom lay buried where they fell in unmarked graves.
Mike said “I joined this group because I respect what they do and believe that the war dead of all nations should be respected and their graves preserved.”
Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead constituency, has joined the Parliamentary War Graves Group. This group actively works with the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office to protect British war graves around the world not protected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and recently applied pressure on the Belgium government over their plans to build a new road through a World War 1 battlefield at Passendale. It was at Passendale in November 1917 that a major battle took place with some 260,000 casualties, many of whom lay buried where they fell in unmarked graves.
Mike said “I joined this group because I respect what they do and believe that the war dead of all nations should be respected and their graves preserved.”