Veterans have gathered for the 82nd Anniversary of the Normandy landings as French children and the grandson of Field Marshal Montgomery take part in poignant commemorations.
Today in 1944, on a cool, cloudy June morning, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed on beaches across Normandy to carry out the largest seaborne invasion in history.
Their brave actions began the liberation of Nazi-occupied France and turned the tide of the Second World War that would eventually lead to the defeat of Hitler’s forces in 1945.
To mark the occasion, serving military personnel, the grandson of British Commander Field Marshal Montgomery, pipers from the Jedburgh Pipe Band as well as school children took part in a march across Juno Beach.
The walk coincided with H-hour – the time at which British servicemen were deployed.
Veterans who lost friends on the very same beaches have also made the journey to France and will be attending the annual Ceremony of Remembrance at the British Normandy Memorial.
A line-up of veterans were sat front and centre of the ceremony, ahead of military and political representatives of the UK, including Defence Secretary John Healey.
The sun pierced through intermittent rain clouds as 100-year-old veteran Ken Hay stood to pronounce the remembrance poem, before observing a minute of silence.
D-Day veterans Richard Brock with (front row left to right) Ken Hay, Henry Rice and Ken Benbow at the British Normandy Memorial today to mark the 82nd anniversary of the Normandy Landings
The Jedburgh Pipe Band lead walkers, including French schoolchildren, across Juno beach to commemorate the poignant anniversary
Veteran Ken Hay (centre) stood to pronounce the remembrance poem, before observing a minute of silence
This year’s anniversary is an extra special one as it is the first to take place since nearly 100 more names were added to the memorial.
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One such person is Cecil Green who was mortally wounded in Normandy, but his death in a British hospital meant he had not been formally commemorated.
His son John Green is in Normandy to mark the occasion.
He told the BBC: ‘I was really pleased, I cried… It’s a strange mixture of being glad and happy and sad at the same time.’
Mr Hay said: ‘To most people coming here they’re just a series of names.
‘To people like myself, they’re people, I can see their faces.’
This year the smallest number of Normandy veterans will attend the ceremony since the memorial opened in 2021, with only six confirmed.
Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed on June 6 1944 to fight Nazi-occupied France.
While the exact number of German casualties is unknown, historians estimate between 4,000 and 9,000 men were killed, wounded or missing.
Defence Secretary John Healey lays a wreath during the ceremony at the British Normandy Memorial
John Green the son of Cecil Green, stands in front of his father’s name inscribed on the memorial. His father was mortally wounded in Normandy, but his death in a British hospital meant he had not been formally commemorated
D-Day veteran Richard Brock laying a wreath with members of Portsmouth Choir at the Royal British Legion’s Service of Remembrance in partnership with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at Bayeux Cemetery in northern France
On the Allied front, a total of 4,414 died.
The Battle of Normandy, which followed the landings, saw 73,000 Allied lives lost with 153,000 men wounded.
Later Field Marshal Montgomery’s grandson Henry Montgomery is set to complete the final day of his journey ‘In Monty’s Footsteps’ by walking more than 22km across Sword, Juno and Gold beaches – at the very time the first troops landed.
Each step of his two-month journey across Britain and north-western France honoured the lives of more than 22,000 men and women whose names are engraved on the British Normandy Memorial.
Mr Montgomery who is raising money for Operation Remembrance said: ‘I think that we have very formal remembrance ceremonies, but sometimes we just do that, and then we don’t continue to remember, it doesn’t sort of necessarily affect how we behave on a day-to-day basis or what we think about.
‘I think remembrance is something that should be active in our lives regularly, that we need to remember the freedoms that people died for, and we need to therefore be responsible in how we take advantage of those freedoms, and I think that I’ve sort of grown to learn, I think, really by meeting veterans.
‘And I think it’s something that’s quite important for younger generations to learn and understand and reflect on, so that’s really what the purpose of Operation Remembrance is.’
Field Marshal Montgomery’s grandson Henry Montgomery (pictured), is set to complete the final day of his journey ‘In Monty’s Footsteps’ by walking more than 22km across Sword, Juno and Gold beaches – at the very time the first troops landed
He added: “Stories are fundamental to Operation Remembrance. So we have collected something like 1,000 stories for the 22,500 people, but that means that we’ve got 21,500 stories that we don’t have, and people must know stories for those 21,500 that we haven’t got stories.’
Mr Montgomery’s target is £225,400, £10 for each of the 22,540 people who are named on the British Normandy Memorial.
He is joined by Will Ramsay, grandson of Admiral Ramsay, Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces on D-Day.
Meanwhile, the great-great-grandson of Winston Churchill, 11-year-old Alexander Churchill, read a prayer during the ceremony said by Admiral Horatio Nelson on the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar.
