Never Forget.

It’s been sixty five years since the day the world stood up in unison and said “No” to Nazi Germany. The Allied Invasion of Normandy began shortly after midnight on the 6th June 1944 with an air assault, men parachuted into enemy occupied France and for nearly seven hours had only those that jumped with them as support. At approximately 0630hrs the amphibious assault began, using landing craft over 160,000 troops ran onto five French beaches spanning a length of 50 miles, the largest single day amphibious invasion of all time. Within five days of the initial landings approximately 326,547 troops had come ashore by sea or air. Due to the nature and scale of the assault there have never been any verified figures for those that lost their lives on the day and days to follow.
Fathers and sons, uncles and brothers, friends and strangers stood shoulder to shoulder and fought for their country, laid down their lives so that others could live.
We rightly commemorate them and remember the sacrifices made by so many. I can not even begin to imagine what it must have been like for the men. What must have been going through their minds as they rode the waves hurtling towards occupied France and then as the ramps dropped and the assault began? Under constant fire from entrenched enemy forces, as you witnessed people with whom you have trained with, lived with over the weeks and months leading up to the attack fall in front of you.
We have been shown tiny glimpses into what it may have been like from films such as The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan and television dramatisations such as Band of Brothers. But even the best of these cannot encapsulate what it must have been like to have gone through and survived such a traumatic experience. I cannot envisage the sites that awaited our men, the brutality, the destruction, the death, the sacrifices and the heroism.
World War Two changed the way we live, saved the way that we live. We need to honour all those involved, from those that fought to those left at home who in their own way fought their own war. Every one a true hero, courageous and worthy of recognition, we must never forget, it is our duty to make sure that the following generations are made aware of the events that preserved our way of life.

For what it’s worth my heart felt thanks go out to every one who bravely took part, in whatever way, home or abroad that has made it possible for me to have the life I have.

Thank you.