Liverpool is preparing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landings, with a series of events to be held on 6 and 9 June. These will include a service of celebration and commemoration, taking place in St. John’s Gardens at noon on 6 June. Liverpool-born D-Day veteran Joseph Carter, now aged 100, is among those expected to attend this event.
At 6.30pm that same day, bells at Liverpool Parish Church will ring out across the city, where national events will also be taking place from 9.15pm. Eight beacons will be lit on St George’s Plateau, where they will remain alight for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, on 9 June, 1,000 veterans will march through the city from Copperas Hill to Royal Albert Dock, accompanied by two bands.
The commemoration has been designed to allow the city to reflect on the events of 6 June 1944, which saw the start of the Battle of Normandy, or Operation Overlord. D-Day remains the largest seaborne invasion ever carried out, with around 160,000 troops crossing the Channel in a single day. It is estimated that Allied casualties reached 10,000 people.
Liverpool’s Lord Mayor, Cllr Richard Kemp, is among those planning to commemorate the occasion. Speaking about his personal connection to the event, he stated that he would reflect on the role that Liverpool played in the supply of goods across the front, and particularly on his father’s role as an RAF Leading Aircraft Man who took part in the mission.
WO2 Billy Jones, Parade Sgt Major, similarly lauded the planned events, calling them “the biggest veteran’s parade in the North of England” and praising attendees who come out to “join the veterans and military personnel on parade” to celebrate a “remarkable achievement” and pay tribute to those who died in the service of their country
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