Seven minutes’ applause and a King’s salute for the 41 D-Day heroes who are last of generation that saved the world
THE clapping went on for seven long minutes but none of the 2,000 guests stood in the sun above Gold Beach begrudged a single second.
They would have stood there all day to applaud the 41 incredible Normandy veterans who had returned to France, possibly for the last time.
Because those heroes were the last of the generation that saved the world.
After the applause died down and the veterans had been seated, the King, dressed in his uniform as Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment, saluted them.
Charles and Queen Camilla sat with French President Emmanuel Macron, PM Rishi Sunak, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, SNP leader John Swinney, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron.
But yesterday was not about the dignitaries who attended the first major ceremony at the new British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer. It was all about the veterans — and rightly so.
Eighty years ago, when they fought one of the bloodiest battles in the history of Western Europe, they were barely out of their teens.
Like Joe Mines, 99 — whose story moved the audience to tears as it was told by actor Martin Freeman — when he said: “I was a boy and I had no idea about war and killing.”
I’ve never been back here in 80 years. I’ve often thought, ‘What do I go back for?’. After all the terrible things I’ve seen. Like a picture book up there, I can visualise everything.
Veteran Joe Mines, 99
Joe sat looking at the list of 1,475 soldiers from British units — carved into a 20ft high wall — who sacrificed their lives on D-Day.
Among them were five of his comrades from 2nd Battalion the Hertfordshire Regiment.
It is the first time Joe, from Hornchurch, East London, has been back to France.
He said: “I’ve never been back here in 80 years. I’ve often thought, ‘What do I go back for?’. After all the terrible things I’ve seen.
“Like a picture book up there, I can visualise everything.
“I landed on June 6th 1944, at a place called Ver-sur-Mer. The Germans pulled back so it allowed us to clear the mines on the beaches.
‘Killed within about an hour of landing’
“That was the first job I got, clearing mines. All over the place, they were. One of our fellas trod on one and blew his leg off. The whole leg went. War is brutal.
“Back when I signed up, I met a fella on the train. I went to Normandy with him but he got killed within about an hour of landing here. He was only young.
“I was 19 when I landed but I was still a boy.
“I don’t get what people say. I wasn’t a man, I was a boy.
“And I didn’t have any idea of war and killing. I was lucky. Yeah, I had lots and lots of luck. So why would I come back?
“Well, this is the last and only opportunity for me. The last there will ever be and it’s because of the lads. I want to pay my respects to those who didn’t make it. May they rest in peace.”
Afterwards, Joe said: “It’s been very emotional but it’s a good thing. I’m glad I’ve done it.”
Above the names of the D-Day fallen, carved in white stone, are the words General Bernard Montgomery told his young heroes: “To us is given the honour of striking a blow for the freedom which will live in history, and in the better days that lie ahead, men will speak with pride of our doing.”
Today’s generation has so much pride for the veterans, they were instantly back on their feet once more to applaud 100-year-old Arthur Oborne.
Walking with a stick, he told how he owes his long life to his friend, Gummy.
Arthur, of Portishead, Somerset, was shot in the chest by a sniper on June 9, three days after landing at Gold Beach, age 20. He survived thanks to pal Walter Gummison.
He said: “He drove me to a field hospital, saving my life. The next day my unit was ambushed, shredded and every man was killed.
“I never saw Gummy again. That day I lost 27 comrades.”
“It is all because of Gummy’s quick thinking and desire to help those around him that I can stand before you today. I wish I could tell him I have never taken his sacrifice for granted. And I will always remember him as our friend. So Gummy, thank you very much.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Many of the veterans wept during the moving service as three World War Two American Dakota planes flew over the monument.
Soldiers from the Royal Marines marched between the 160 pillars that carry the names of every one of the 22,440 servicemen and two female nurses who gave their lives fighting in Normandy.
Emotions run high on the beaches of Normandy today
BY Jerome Starkey, Defence Editor, on Gold Beach
It is only by standing on Normandy’s beaches that I began to understand the scale of what happened here 80 years ago.
Both in terms of human sacrifice – the number of people slaughtered on both sides.
And in terms of significance.
It was here, on the blood-soaked sands of Normandy, that our forebears began the liberation of Europe.
They leapt into the water and charged past dead and dying comrades so that we could enjoy the freedoms we often take for granted.
The D-Day pilgrims around me today understand that sacrifice.
Some of them are serving soldiers. Some of them are veterans. Some have family connections while some have none.
They have come to pay homage and remember.
The largest group are the locals – the French –who applauded the Parachute Regiment yesterday and called out “Thank yous” as soldiers after jumping into Sannerville.
One of them asked me with genuine concern if people in Britain knew about D-Day as keenly as they do here.
They crowded onto Pegasus Bridge in their thousands, last night, to honour the airborne troops who dropped in ours before the D-Day landings and freed the very first house in France.
There is a large group of military enthusiasts dressed up in World War Two style uniforms with fleets of vintage jeeps and armoured fighting vehicles, all lovingly restored.
They give the events a festival feel.
The smallest group are the veterans. There are only a handful left alive.
And that gives this 80th anniversary a sense of added poignancy and a sense of urgency.
Those that understand the horror of what happened here want that lesson to be passed on to a younger generation.
They hope it might help us and our children avoid the madness of 80 years ago from happening all over again.
Ron Hendrey, 98, looked out onto Gold Beach where on D-Day, as an 18-year-old cordite loader aboard HMS Ulster, his ship’s guns pounded the German emplacement where Britain’s memorial now stands. Ron, of Clacton, Essex, said: “I try to forget D-Day, but I can’t.
“And when I come here, especially today, the 6th of June, I have one purpose. It is to think of the boys. I’ve had 80 years on this Earth since that day.
“My friends have remained under the earth for that time. And it is so important to me that we share the same earth once more.”
Ron later sat beside King Charles at lunch. He said: “The King was very nice, he listened to what I was saying and took it in.
“I asked him how he was doing, he told me he is doing well.”
President Macron, who arrived late because of traffic jams in the narrow roads around Ver-sur-Mer, awarded former Royal Navy Wren Christian Lamb with the Legion d’honneur.
‘We owe you everything’
Christian, the oldest veteran here at 103, worked in the shadows, drawing highly-detailed maps of the D-Day beaches in Churchill’s secret war room in London.
In the three months following D-Day, 450,000 British troops fought the battle of Normandy. A grateful President Macron told all the veterans: “Let me say that nobody here in France, in Normandy, can forget their sacrifice and your sacrifice.”
We cannot possibly hope to repay that debt. But we can — and we must — pledge never to forget.
Rishi Sunak to veterans
A flypast by the Red Arrows marked the end of this historic service. The veterans, carrying white roses given by local school children, made their way beneath the names of their fallen comrades.
Mr Sunak, who pushed former RAF Sergeant Bernard Morgan in his wheelchair, told the veterans: “You risked everything. And we owe you everything.
“We cannot possibly hope to repay that debt. But we can — and we must — pledge never to forget.”
But 100-year-old Bernard allowed a moment of spirited humour to shine through as he was pushed across bumpy ground by the Prime Minister, joking: “I had a softer landing on D-Day!”
The King's 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.”
Charles continued: “As the years pass, the veterans of the Normandy campaign become ever fewer in number.
“Over the past 40 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 sight and sound of thousands of bemedaled 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.”
Concluding his speech, the King spoke of his “unfailing” gratitude to those who lost their lives on D-Day 80 years ago.
Charles said: “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 30 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 benefits of younger generations and those yet unborn.
“Our gratitude is unfailing and our admiration eternal.”