David Cameron announces plans to commemorate the centenary of World War One

A new generation WILL remember them: Cameron orders every state school to visit the trenches as part of £50million plans to mark WW1 centenary

• David Cameron reveals an ambitious £50million programme of events and education projects to be held in 2014
• Student ambassadors will travel to the battlefields to learn about the wartime experiences of people from their local community
• The Prime Minister defends spending, saying the Great War is a 'fundamental part of our national consciousness'
• National commemoration and memorial service will be matched by community events across the country with a 'strong local flavour'
• Football matches top mark the Christmas Day truce and poppy seeds sown in Britain to recreate iconic image of the Western Front

Children from every state secondary school will travel to the First World War battlefields as part of a £50million package of events to mark the centenary of the Great War.

David Cameron yesterday pledged a ‘truly national commemoration’ in 2014 to remember the start of the ‘war to end all wars’.

The Prime Minister said Britain had a duty to ‘honour those who served, remember those who died and ensure the lessons learnt live with us forever’.

At the Imperial War Museum in London yesterday, Mr Cameron said it was vital to mark the war because of the ‘sheer scale of the sacrifice’.

‘This was the extraordinary sacrifice of a generation,’ he added. ‘It was a sacrifice they made for us, and it is right we remember them.’

The war had also helped ‘make us who we are today’, he said, pointing to subsequent advances in the emancipation of women, recognition for ethnic minorities and improvements in medicine.

The Prime Minister, who revealed his favourite book is Robert Graves’s war memoir Goodbye to All That, added:‘There is something about the First World War that makes it a fundamental part of our national consciousness.

‘Put simply, this matters – not just in our heads, but in our hearts. It has an emotional connection. I feel it very deeply.’ Defence Minister Andrew Murrison, a former naval doctor, acknowledged that while the conflict remained a controversial event, it was right to remember those who had died.

‘The commemorations will be very much focused on remembrance, making no judgment on right or wrong or indulging in jingoistic sentiment,’ he added.
‘The fact is it happened, millions of people died and the consequences are still with us today.’

Chris Simpkins, of the Royal British Legion, said: ‘The tragic events of 1914-1918 have left a deep imprint on the fabric of the nation.


‘The losses were felt in nearly every town and village across the UK, as demonstrated by the monuments found in every village green or churchyard.
‘It is right and proper the centenary has a strong local flavour.’

Mr Cameron added to his growing historical blunders yesterday when he declared that 200,000 British soldiers were killed during a single day of the Battle of the Somme – ten times the true figure. On the battle’s opening day, July 1, 1916, the British Army suffered the worst losses in its history, with 40,000 wounded and 20,000 killed.

HOW THE FALLEN WILL BE REMEMBERED

Commemorations marking the centenary of the First World War will last five years and cost £50million. They will include:
£5.3million to allow children and teachers from every secondary school to visit battlefields such as the Somme, Verdun and Fromelles.
National commemorations on August 4, 2014, to recall the first day of the conflict; on July 1, 2016,to remember the first day of the Somme; and in 2018 to mark the centenary of Armistice Day.
£15million in grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund to support events across the country. Ideas include friendly football matches to mark the 1914 Christmas Day truce on the Western Front.
A £5million contribution to the £35million redevelopment of the Imperial War Museum’s First World War galleries.

A £1million grant to secure the future in Belfast of HMS Caroline, WW1’s last surviving warship.
Visit by David Cameron and Irish taoiseach Enda Kenny to the Belgian battlefields where 27,000 Irishmen in the British forces died.