Written by JOSHUA TAYLOR

A SOLDIER from Burton has been given the red carpet treatment during a visit to the Houses of Parliament.

Trooper Jake Wheeler, who hails from Winshill and now serves in the 4th Mechanised Brigade, has recently returned to Britain after a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

The squaddy, who studied at Abbot Beyne School, met Burton MP Andrew Griffiths in Parliament after the brigade marched through Westminster to mark its homecoming.

BURTON’S MP has backed a campaign to renovate a Burton war hero’s grave.

Andrew Griffiths has also been made a patron of the Victoria Cross Trust, which plans to renovate the grave of William Coltman, at St Mark’s Church in Winshill.

William Coltman was one of the most decorated soldiers in the First World War, being awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry. He was also twice being awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal.

Last week the Mail revealed the Victoria Cross Trust is waiting on written permission to renovate Williams Coltman’s Grave.

Written by JOSHUA TAYLOR

A CEREMONY has taken place to mark the efforts of those involved in a campaign to gain recognition for a Russian bravery medal.

The nation offered its Ukashov Medal to all British veterans who served in the Arctic convoy missions during the Second World War.

But strict British military convention prevented the Russians from handing out the medal — until David Cameron recently intervened and asked officials to examine ways round the ban.

Written by JOSH TAYLOR

AN alliance of MPs could be formed to fight for the historic Staffordshire name to be retained by the British Army.

Politicians are worried the county’s military pedigree could be lost after the scrapping of 3rd Battalion Mercian Regiment.

MPs Andrew Griffiths for Burton, Bill Cash for Stone, Jeremy Lefroy for Stafford, Government whip Michael Fabricant for Lichfield and Philip Atkins, leader of Staffordshire County Council, were among politicians who voiced concern after yesterday’s defence cuts were announced.

BURTON MP Andrew Griffiths has just returned from a trip to Afghanistan to visit British troops, who have been fighting the Taliban there for more than a decade.

Here, in his own words, the Conservative describes his extraordinary experience and how he feels inspired by our armed forces’ ‘courage, determination and sacrifice’.

I have never experienced a landing like it.

I am sitting in the back of a C17 military cargo plane, it is the middle of the night, and I’m about to touch down at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

Andrew out on exercise in the Falklands with the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme

THESE pictures show Burton’s MP during his week spent in freezing temperatures living and sleeping with the armed forces in the Falkland Islands.

Andrew Griffiths’s week-long stay on the islands began with an 18-hour flight from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

He was joined by a group of MPs and MEPs who form part of the All-Party Parliamentary Armed Services Scheme — a ‘mini Territorial Army’ for politicians.

The group spent the week living and sleeping in the conditions endured by all military personnel who travel to the Falklands.