Sixty years ago...
Since nobody else has started a thread about the 60th Anniversary, I thought I would.
Sixty years ago, the largest amphibious assault in history took place. Apart from the significance of the landings themselves, they also point to earlier actions, earlier victories which blunted Hitler's war machine.
These actions were many in number, far too many for me to list, but included the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk, defeating the Luftwaffe of the skies of Britain in 1940, fighting and winning, after many victories and defeats, in North Africa, naval and air operations in the Med to support allied forces in North Africa, landings in vichy French colonies, the long struggle in the Atlantic, which resulted in Donitz withdrawing the wolfpacks in 1943, the Arctic convoys - providing Russia with assistance to fight the Germans as soon as they attacked, Sicily, Italy and many others.
Now was the time to put troops back on the continent of Europe, as Churchill had promised at the times of Dunkirk. Now the time had come to rescue Europe from the grip of Nazism.
So sixty years ago, hundreds of thousands of men were waiting. Waiting aboard troop ships, warships, at airfields. We can only imagine the tensions they must have felt, the anxiety, the uncertainties and the feeling of responsibility.
The troops were of course supported by ships of all sizes and types, and aircraft of all types. The current media coverage would appear to forget that. But there role was important too, and involved sacrifice.
On a personal note, my Grandfather was there, a Chief Gunner aboard HMS Belfast. As many of you will recall Belfast fired some of the first shots of the bombardment that preceded the landings.
Most writings on D Day talk of British, American and Canadian forces, but others were there - Australian, Kiwi, Indian, African, Free French, Polish. Their contribution, and the sacrifices they made, need to be remembered.
The heroism they displayed then, and the dignity of veterans now, should serve as an example - and a contrast to modern day "heroes"...
Thank you is hardly sufficient to express the grattitude and respect I rightly have for them. Even the least of them is many times more of a man, more of a human than I will ever be.