D-Day veterans have been left in tears as the memories of decades past came flooding back while they were honoured for their service by world leaders and royals.
Soldiers who took part in the Normandy landings 80 years ago wept as they remembered their fallen comrades and were given standing ovations by the grateful younger generations at a series of touching commemorative events in northern France.
At the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, tribute was paid to the ‘remarkable wartime generation’, before wreaths of poppies were laid in memory of the more than 25,000 soldiers who lost their lives in the first stages of the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.
The number of veterans in attendance was only a few dozen, as the numbers of survivors dwindles with each year that passes – at the 75th anniversary five years ago 255 travelled to France, compared to the 50 who have made the journey this time around.
King Charles and Queen Camilla led those present, which also included Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron, in a poignant silent prayer to remember those no longer with us, while memories of those who were on the beaches 80 years ago were also read out.
There were also moments of levity, with Queen Camilla being given a white rose by one veteran in a touching mark of respect, with Her Majesty seen clutching the tender gift as she spoke with the former soldiers.
At Ver-sur-Mer, Charles led 2,000 dignitaries, military personnel and veterans in paying tribute to those who stormed the beaches.
Charles, along with President Macron, Mr Sunak and military leaders laid wreathes of poppies at the memorial as Elgar’s Nimrod was performed by a brass band in the background, with the national anthems of France and the United Kingdom also being played as the Red Arrows roared overhead.
They were also presented with white roses by French schoolchildren while cadets waved flags, and received multiple standing ovations during the two-hour-long service, before shaking hands and exchanging words with His Majesty.
The monarch looked emotional as he listened to singer Johnny Flynn perform ‘Song with no Name’ in tribute to the fallen, while Camilla was seen wiping her eyes as actor Martin Freeman read a touching diary entry from one survivor who remarked ‘it’s because of the lads [who died] that I’m here today’.
Mr Sunak gave a touching speech at the event saying that ‘only by remembering’ can we ensure their sacrifice is never forgotten. As military planes flew overhead, Mr Sunak led the audience in giving the veterans in attendance a standing ovation.
At the same time, an RAF band performed a marching display while Dakota military transport aircraft, widely used by the Allies during the Second World War, flew overhead. There was also an emotive performance by Tom Jones of his song ‘I Won’t Crumble With You If You Fall’
In his speech, Charles said: ‘Eighty years ago on D-Day, the 6th of June 1944, our nation – and those which stood alongside it – faced what my grandfather, King George VI, described as the supreme test.
‘How fortunate we were, and the entire free world, that a generation of men and women in the United Kingdom and other allied nations did not flinch when the moment came to face that test.
‘On the beaches of Normandy, on the seas beyond and in the skies overhead, our armed forces carried out their duty with a humbling sense of resolve and determination – qualities so characteristic of that remarkable war-time generation.
‘Very many of them never came home, they lost their lives on the D-Day landing grounds or in the many battles that followed.
‘It is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all those who served at that critical time.
‘We recall the lesson that comes to us again and again across the decades – free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny.’
Speaking in French as well as English, he also paid his respects to the people of France, who suffered under Nazi rule during the Second World War and who fought for freedom through La Résistance.
Elswhere in Normandy, Prince William paid tribute to Canadian troops who laid down their lives to ensure ‘fascism was conquered’.
Addressing Canadian veterans on Juno Beach, the Prince of Wales thanked them for their ‘extraordinary acts of bravery and sacrifice’.
‘All of you demonstrated heroism, and determination, that ensured fascism was conquered,’ he said.
‘The commitment to service displayed by Canadian troops is a great testament to the strength of the people of Canada.’
Canadian troops were tasked with storming Juno beach, one of five attacked by Allied forces.
The prince continued: ‘Ensuring the memory of those who fought for freedom lives on is why we’ve come together again today – to say thank you.’
Ending his speech, he repeated his appreciation in French: ‘Merci pour notre liberte, et merci pour votre service.’
After the Canadian ceremony on Juno Beach, which included the playing of the Last Post and the observance of a minute’s silence, alongside performances from Canadian musicians, William and the politicians briefly chatted to some of the veterans.
The prince asked one old servicemen ‘memories bringing it all back?’ and with the area now a picturesque stretch of sand with beach homes beyond the dunes, he added ‘there’s been a lot of changes.’
William moved on to talk to another Canadian veteran, and when the conversation turned toward the ages of the men who fought on D-Day the future king said ‘a lot of people were lying about their ages’.
Before the Prince of Wales and the prime ministers of France and Canada left floral tributes on Juno Beach, a lone piper played a lament in the dunes as the waves crashed on the sands.
On D-Day, 359 Canadian soldiers were killed, while more than 5,000 troops from the Commonwealth country died over the course of the 11-week Battle of Normandy.
William’s wreath had the handwritten note: ‘Remembering all Canadian acts of bravery and sacrifice 80 years ago.
‘Lest we forget. N’oublions jamais.’
Earlier in the day a lone military piper played on Gold Beach to mark the moment the first British troops stormed the Normandy coast on D-Day 80 years ago today.
Pipe Major Trevor Macey-Lillie played Highland Laddie as he was carried to the beach at Arromanches on a Royal Marines amphibious landing craft flanked by service members at the exact moment the first troops waded ashore as part of the Normandy landings.
Crowds gathered at the beach to view the reenactment, which harkened back to a lone piper who played during the landings itself and was never shot at, during a picturesque sunrise – a far cry from the cloudy and rough seas that welcomed 25,000 soldiers who landed on the same stretch of coast in 1944.
Among those present at Arromanches this morning was Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who joined others in paying tribute to those who lost their lives during what was the biggest seaborne invasion in military history.
There have also been events remember the British troops on Sword Beach in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Canadian soldiers on Juno Beach at Courseulles and US forces at Utah Beach in Pouppeville and Omaha Beach in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.
Pipe Major Macey-Lillie, who also performed his role as the lone piper on gold Beach during the 75th anniversary, said it was a ‘privileged, humbling experience’ to take part.
‘We are here to represent and remember the veterans who are still here today and for the young soldiers of all Allied forces who didn’t make it home,’ he told the BBC.
‘It was freezing cold out there this morning and last night. I was on the landing craft out behind the harbour looking up at the stars and thinking to myself about exactly what the young soldiers had thought prior to them coming onto the beaches.’
He performed to crowds of reenactors who gather in their wartime vehicles, and visitors, had previously filled the area as the sun rose, with some writing in the sand and others cupping hot drinks as they looked out to sea.
After the piper’s lament the piper’s lament, a French church service was held and military planes flew overhead.
Following the poignant remembrance on the beach, there will be commemorations in the French town including a veterans parade, as well as an air and firework display.
There have also been reenactments on other beaches which were targeted during D-Day, with a fellow British congregation gathering on Sword Beach to pay respects to those who lost their lives on June 6, 1944.
There are also events at Juno Beach, Utah Beach and Omaha Beach where heroic Canadian and US troops played their part in the Normandy landings.
In recent days veterans of the conflict, who are dwindling in number as the years pass, have travelled to France to take part in events commemorating the fallen.
At the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings the Royal British Legion (RBL) took 255 veterans back to Normandy on a chartered ship, while this year only 23 will make the trip with the charity.
A total of 50 British D-Day veterans are expected to be at events in Normandy today, and there have been emotional scenes as those who are well enough to make the journey have gathered in northern France.
Charles and Camilla, along with senior politicians, will be present at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, which pays tribute to 22,442 service personnel under British command who died on D-day and during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944.
It will be the first major anniversary at the site, which opened in 2021, with Charles and Camilla officially opening the Winston Churchill Centre for Education and Learning following the commemorations today.
Meanwhile, Prince William will attend the Canadian commemorative event at the Juno Beach Centre, Courseulles-sur-Mer, before joining more than 25 heads of state and veterans for the official international ceremony on Omaha Beach, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.
An 80-strong flotilla of boats is set to cross the English Channel from Falmouth in Cornwall, where thousands of troops departed to take part in the invasion, while there will also be a beacon-lighting ceremony in Aylesford, Kent.
At midnight this morning there was a ceremony at the Bayeux War Cemetery, with the gravestones of soldiers who perished during the Normandy landings being illuminated.
Later today the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will join veterans at a Royal British Legion remembrance service at The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will meet veterans at a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The event, D-day 80: Remembering The Normandy Landings, will be hosted by Davina McCall and feature music from the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, as well as Lulu, Katherine Jenkins, Emeli Sande and D-day Darlings lead vocalist Katie Ashby.
The weather is expected to be ‘generally dry’ during the commemorations, the Met Office said.
Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said: ‘It’ll be pretty dry on either side of the channel.
‘It shouldn’t hamper any commemorations during the day.
‘It’ll be better weather compared to what they had then [in 1944]. Less windy and probably a bit brighter.’
Lord Peter Ricketts, the former UK ambassador to France and now honorary president of the Normandy Memorial Trust, says it’s important to remember that today is a ‘commemoration, certainly not celebration’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Vladimir Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine, which has seen him dis-invited to this year’s commemorations, mean the events have taken on a new significance.
‘What Russia has done since then makes it impossible for a senior Russian representatives to be here,’ he said.
‘When we were allied, when we were successful. It’s vital we pass that message on to the younger people.’
Nigel Steel, senior curator at the Imperial War Museum, said it is important to ‘make the most’ of having D-Day veterans as their numbers dwindle.
He told : ‘The presence of a veterans is special for us and I think we do need to make the most of that because we know that it’s only a matter of time [before they’re no longer there].
‘When the veterans are there it’s great because we can listen to them and we’re kind of enamored by the veterans as much as the event.
‘But without the veterans, as we are now doing with the First World War, we can still talk about it and remember it and appreciate the significance and remember the veterans as part of that historical memory.
‘They [veterans] are so fascinating to us because they were actually there and in their heads are the real memories and all we can do is talk to them and pick this up second hand.
‘I think that’s the great thing about talking to veterans is that you feel your as close to the events as you can ever possibly be.
‘You’ve kind of got a direct line back to those events because they were actually there and they were there witnessing and taking part in them.
‘So that’s why we need to make the most of it while they’re still here but whilst we’re talking to them we need to store up those memories so that we can then share them with the next generations who don’t have the privilege of meeting them in person.’
(Delivered in French)
‘Mr. President, we are grateful to you for honoring us with your presence here today, at the British memorial in Normandy.
(Delivered in English)
‘Eighty years ago, on D-Day, 6th June 1944, our nation and those which stood alongside us faced what my grandfather, King George VI, described as the supreme test.
‘How fortunate we were, and the entire free world, that a generation of men and women in the United Kingdom and other Allied nations did not flinch when the moment came to face that test.
‘On the beaches of Normandy, in the seas beyond and in the skies overhead, our armed forces carried out their duty with a humbling sense of resolve and determination: qualities so characteristic of that remarkable wartime generation. Very many of them never came home.
‘They lost their lives on the D-Day landing grounds or in the many battles that followed.
‘It is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them, and all those who served at that critical time.
‘We recall the lesson that comes to us, again and again, across the decades: free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny.
‘As the years pass, the veterans of the Normandy campaign become ever-fewer in number.
‘Over the past forty years I have had the great privilege of attending seven D-Day commemorations in Normandy and meeting so many distinguished veterans.
‘Indeed, I shall never forget the haunting sights and sounds of thousands of be-medalled figures proudly marching past into a French sunset on these beaches.
‘Our ability to learn from their stories at first hand diminishes. But our obligation to remember them, what they stood for and what they achieved for us all, can never diminish.
‘That is why I am so proud that we have a permanent National Memorial in Normandy, by which to remember the more than 22,000 service personnel in British units who gave their lives during the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy.
‘It was built at the suggestion of a veteran, George Batts. He is sadly no longer with us, but lived to see it built and explained on the day it was opened why it means so much: ‘We left a lot of mates behind and now I know they will never be forgotten.’
‘So, for the first time today, we can come together at Gold Beach, the objective of the 50th Infantry Division, to honour those who fought on this ground eighty years ago, and who continued for three months of the war’s fiercest fighting to secure Normandy.
(Delivered in French)
‘This memorial stands also as a special homage to the greatest tragedy of D-Day: the unimaginable numbers of French civilians who died in this joint battle, for freedom, as the Allies sealed off north-west France to ensure a final victory.
‘We must never fail to pay tribute to the unbelievable courage and sacrifice of the men and women of the French Resistance, and many ordinary people, who provided vital intelligence, cut off supplies and communications, and laid critical ambushes.
‘The warmth and the generosity of the welcome which the people of Normandy have shown to the veterans of D-Day is the most moving and memorable part of these anniversaries.
(Delivered in English)
‘This vital start to the liberation of Europe was a vast Allied effort. American, British, Canadian, French and Polish formations fought here in Normandy. Among the names inscribed on the walls and pillars of this memorial are men and women from more than thirty different nations and many faiths.
‘United, they fought together for what my grandfather, King George VI, described as ‘a world in which goodness and honour may be the foundation of the life of men in every land’.
‘As we stand alongside their remaining friends and comrades on this hallowed ground, let us affirm that we will strive to live by their example, let us pray such sacrifice need never be made again, and let us commit to carrying forward their resounding message of courage and resilience in the pursuit of freedom, tempered by the duty of responsibilities to others, for the benefit of younger generations and those yet unborn.
‘Our gratitude is unfailing and our admiration eternal.’