Saturday will be a poignant and tragic day for John and Sandra Hyde. It marks 20 years since their only child was killed in an attack at a police station in Al Majar Al Kabir, in Iraq.

Ben and his Red Cap comrades of the Royal Military Police were there, we were told, to protect the UK from immediate danger and find supposed weapons of mass destruction, at a time when the world was in fear just 18 months on from the September 11 attacks.

Read more: 20 years on from his death in Iraq, how Lance Corporal Ben Hyde's name lives on

On June 24, 2003, Ben and five fellow Royal Military Policemen were overwhelmed by a mob of up to 400. They opened fire and the 23-year-old from Northallerton was killed. His hometown was in shock and his parents left devastated, changing their lives forever and ending their possibility of having grandchildren.

To this day, they remain haunted by the abysmal lack of equipment the men were provided with. They should have had a satellite phone and 150 rounds of ammunition each, but they had no phone and only 50 rounds.

The Iraq War still casts a long shadow over so many lives and on decisions being made today. 179 British military personnel stepped forward to serve and didn’t come home. More than 5,000 were also injured. History will continue to review why it happened and whether it should have even taken place in the first place.

Read more: Northallerton's Ben Hyde parents talk of son after death in Iraq

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The Chilcot Inquiry was a long and drawn-out process that lasted seven years. Despite fears of a whitewash, it found the UK sent ill-prepared troops into war and Tony Blair overstated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and had ‘wholly inadequate’ plans for the aftermath. UK forces in Iraq faced gaps in some key capability areas - including armoured vehicles, reconnaissance and intelligence assets and helicopter support.

Sending our brave troops into battle without the right protection and equipment was unacceptable and, whatever else we have learnt two decades on from this conflict, it must never be allowed to happen again.