A group of D-Day veterans have left the UK to attend commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings. The group of about 25 former servicemen took the ferry from Portsmouth to France. The spectacle drew large crowds and is likely to be the last time veterans make the journey to France. The veterans were seen waving to people as the ferry left Portsmouth Harbour.
The group is taking a commemorative torch from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that will feature prominently at a vigil in Bayeux on Wednesday. Brittany Ferries’ Mont St Michel was accompanied by a flotilla of vintage and serving warships, including World War Two-era motor gunboat 81, motor launch HMS Medusa and RAF rescue boat HSL 102. Royal Navy patrol boats HMS Trumpeter and HMS Dasher followed behind, along with sea cadet training vessel TS Royalist and minehunter HMS Cattistock.
Veteran John Dennett told BBC News: “I am looking forward to it – it’s a chance of a lifetime…Eighty years ago is a long time. We must always remember them.” Janet Welling, 71, from Portsmouth, said: “It shouldn’t be forgotten, what those poor lads went through, leaving here and embarking on France.” Crowds cheering the ferry as it passed waved flags and veterans and their families waved back.
An MoD spokesman said a wreath-laying ceremony will take place on the ferry later “to remember those who never made it to shore”. On Monday, about 40 veterans met at the headquarters where D-Day was planned – Southwick House, near Portsmouth. Mark Atkinson, the Royal British Legion’s director-general, said it was a “momentous occasion”. He added: “It’s an opportunity for them to pay their respects and remember the fallen.”
Many of the veterans were in high spirits, giving interviews to British and French TV, radio and press. Among them was 99-year-old able seaman John Dennett, who was part of the second wave of troops that landed in Sword Beach on 6 June 1944. He travelled from Wallasey in Merseyside on Sunday with his nephew. John turns 100 next month but says he’s not tempted to take things easy. “It’s events like this that keep you going. You have to appreciate that you’re here and make the most of it.
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