![]() Signalman on HMS Eastway, a landing ship (dock) used to supply men and equipment as needed to the various beaches.Ĭyril Stanley (Stan) Ford, 98, Legion of Honour, Royal Navy Henry Rice, 97, Legion of Honour, Royal Navy Was in the push to Belgium, Holland and Berlin, driving under the Brandenburg Gate. On August 26 his tank was destroyed but he was given a replacement. Landed Cromwell Tank on the Mulberry Harbour. Richard Aldred, 98, Legion of Honour, Royal Armoured Corps He also disobeyed instructions to rescue a French crew whose boat was on fire. He was then tasked to run into the beach at Arromanches and pick up a man and a woman. His job was to take in frogmen who were to blow up mines on the beach obstacles. ![]() ![]() Crept into Normandy under cover of darkness on the night of June 5. Jack Quinn, 98, Croix de Guerre, Legion of Honour, Royal MarinesĬoxswain of a landing craft. Was on the escort aircraft carrier HMS Campania during the Normandy Campaign. Trained as a submarine detector and prior to the landings served in the Arctic Convoys. The next day he found she had half-filled his mess tin with milk and left a note on the back of a picture of herself, which Reg has kept in his wallet ever since.Īlec Penston, 98, Legion of Honour, Royal Navy While moving through Normandy 14 days after D-Day he gave a 14-year-old girl his evening meal of a slice of bread with jam and a tin of pilchards. Some – including an emotional Ernie Davies, inset, of the Royal Navy, and Bill Gladden of 6th Airborne Army Recce Regiment – started arriving Monday to a warm welcome.Ī driver carrying sappers, mines and ammunition. On Tuesday, veterans will gather at the British Normandy Memorial overlooking Gold Beach in Ver-sur-Mer. The number of veterans is dwindling, but I hope and pray many will be here next year when we commemorate the 80th anniversary.” And grandfather would be proud of you all.”Īlso in attendance was General Richard Dannatt, the former British Army officer and Chief of the General Staff, who told the Express: “The significance of the British and Allied contributions to bringing freedom and peace to Europe on D-Day cannot be underestimated and the gratitude the French still feel towards those who liberated their country burns so strong. He said: “Your courage, spirit, willingness and, if necessary, sacrifice of life, meant we have enjoyed long-lasting peace secured at such a cost. They heard how these men belong to a unique generation. Underneath a statue of his grandfather in Colleville-Montgomery, the seaside village renamed in 1946 in grandfather’s honour, Henry addressed the assembled veterans in a crowd of several hundred attending a dedication and wreath-laying service. More than 250,000 more supported operations from the air and sea while the French Resistance carried out extraordinary acts of bravery behind enemy lines.Īmong the volunteers accompanying them was Field Marshal Montgomery’s grandson – Henry, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. More than 156,000 men landed on D-Day – 83,000 from Britain and the Commonwealth. ![]() The Allied invasion was the largest in history. They linked arms and stood shoulder to shoulder once more. Theirs was a lucky roll of the dice.Īnd, in a poignant moment in time, proud, stoic, dutiful and indomitable Ken and Jack were joined by Henry Rice, 97, Stan Ford, 98, Alec Penstone, 98, Reginald Pye, 99, and Richard Aldred, 98 – all recipients of France’s Legion of Honour. If one day can be said to have determined the fate of the world it was D-Day.Īs the frail but hardy veterans looked out at the choppy English Channel, they fought back tears remembering the uncertainty of that day.Īs the sun rose and they waded ashore not one of them knew if they would be alive when it set. Some teenagers stopped and crouched for selfies beside wheelchair-bound conquerors. The magnificent seven from the greatest generation took centre stage on Monday as they paraded through the streets of the small coastal village that became a launchpad for the allied liberation of western Europe.įeted as heroes, first at a moving open-air service and later as they stepped foot again on what was a slaughter field on June 6, 1944, the men were mobbed by generations of grateful French for liberating their country. His friend Jack Quinn, 98, who lost every member of his Royal Marine unit in battle but was awarded a Croix de Guerre for an individual feat of heroism, added: “I never saw them again and we should have shared this medal. I can’t stop thinking about the guys we left behind.” Ken Hay, 97, fought back tears on the wind-battered shore, identical conditions to those 79 years ago, as he told the Daily Express: “It is all still very emotional. But the memories of what they witnessed are undimmed by time.
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