KEYWORD SEARCH
Search helpSEARCH FOR A TOUR
THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGIONCLICK HERE
Poppy Travel to lead recruits on tours
Poppy Travel has been awarded a £1.5 million Ministry of Defence contract to provide First and Second World War realities of war battlefield tours to new Army recruits.
The tours, for non-infantry recruits will cater for up to 10,000 soldiers joining the Armed Forces in 2009. Expert guides, almost all ex-Servicemen and women themselves will take them to the Western Front battlefields of the Great War and to the Second World War D-Day beaches and battlefields of Normandy. Poppy Travel's guides work very closely with the Army to help them to understand the reality of war through the eyes of the soldiers of the World Wars. They provide the historic background and bring to life the soldiers’ experience. The Army’s officers and NCO instructors use their operational experience from Afghanistan and Iraq to relate the lessons of the past to the present.
Major Frank Baldwin, Armed Forces Manager at Poppy Travel said: "It's a privilege for our guides to apply their experience and understanding to help the current generation of soldiers to prepare for the challenges they face. It is very important for these young men and women to see for themselves the areas where thousands of soldiers like them fought, and to imagine what it must have been like for them to leave their homes in Britain, often at a very young age, and be sent to fight in very tough conditions."
"Poppy Travel is very proud to have secured this MoD contract and we have worked very hard to develop a tour program that supports the Realities of War syllabus for junior soldier training."
Poppy Travel provides tours to cemeteries, war memorials and battlefield sites across the world, covering various sites of both World Wars as well as conflicts since 1945 and before 1914. They are designed for a range of individuals or groups, such as those wishing to learn more about their family history, school children learning about the importance of Remembrance, veterans returning to where they fought, and people with a general interest in military-related subjects.
The Royal British Legion provides battlefield guides for Poppy Travel tours as part of its commitment to encouraging the nation to remember those who have fought for Queen and Country and those who continue to do so today.