THE Yeovil Express has been inundated with letters and phone calls from Normandy veterans concerned by the apparent lack of planning for next year's 60th anniversary of the D-Day Landings.

Yeovil MP David Laws enlisted the support of the Express in his campaign to ensure that the Government provides full backing of the D-Day commemoration events in Normandy in June 2004.

And now Mr Laws said: "I have decided to step up the campaign to make sure that the Government provides all the help it can to the Normandy Veterans to make the D-Day commemoration events marked in an appropriate way - and that there is the highest representation from the Government.

"The Royal British Legion has now asked me to try and secure a special Parliamentary debate on this issue so that more MPs can speak out on this matter. I will do my best to secure this debate and give MPs the chance to convince the Government that it should pull out all the stops to help the Normandy veterans."

Mr Laws has also suggested to the Royal British Legion that it sets up a meeting between the Veterans Minister and concerned MPs. He will take part in this proposed meeting and ask the Minister why his department seems to be taking the 60th anniversary of D-Day less seriously than the 40th and 50th anniversaries.

"I have also tabled Parliamentary Questions to find out exactly what assistance the Government is being given to the Normandy Veterans Association in trying to arrange commemoration events in the Bayeux War cemetery and Arromanches," he said.

"So far the veterans have complained that the MoD have not offered to help them organise traffic and crowds at these events. The Royal British Legion has also said that the Government will only provide representation at Ministerial and Officer level whereas both the Queen and the Prime Minister attended the previous anniversaries."

Mr Laws said he would continue to work with the British Legion until it was satisified that the MoD was doing all it could to make sure the special commemoration events were a success. "The Normandy veterans deserve nothing less," he added.

The Yeovil Express would like to hear from any local D-Day veterans who want to support Mr Laws' call for the 60th anniversary to be properly commemorated. Write to: Yeovil Express, 46 Princes Street, Yeovil, Somerset BA20 1EQ or tel 01935-479811.