Richard was honoured to recently visit Kempston Rural Cemetery and be escorted by Elizabeth Smith of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), and Mike Chapman, a volunteer tour guide.
Richard Fuller MP commented:
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorates more than 1.7 million men and women from the Commonwealth forces who lost their lives serving the World Wars so that they, and the human cost of war, are remembered forever.
Their dedicated specialist staff care for graves, cemeteries and memorials at over 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries and territories around the world. In the UK there are graves in more than 13 000 sites.
In Kempston Rural there are 64 war graves, 13 of them are spread across the cemetery, usually meaning the person (or sadly often an empty coffin) was buried on a family plot. The remaining 51 are split between two big plots, the World War One and World War Two plots.
I was struck by how young the people in the graveyard were that we heard about, with none of them being over the age of 30 at the time of their passing.
A very poignant visit, particularly at this time of year when remembrance is very much at the forefront of our minds.
