British Normandy Memorial unveiled in France to honour veterans
A memorial honouring soldiers who died under British command on D-Day and in the fighting that followed has been unveiled in France on the 77th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
The British Normandy Memorial records the names of the 22,442 people who were killed on D-Day and at the Battle of Normandy.
It cost £30m and was designed by British architect Liam O'Connor.
Due to Covid restrictions, veterans watched the unveiling via video link.
Only a small number of people were able to attend the event in the Normandy town of Ver-sur-Mer, where the memorial is situated.
Around 100 veterans unable to travel to Normandy watched a live broadcast from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
At 11:00 BST the Last Post was played, ushering in a two-minute silence.
Meanwhile, British and French wreaths were placed in front of the D-Day Wall at the memorial in France as bagpipes played.
The RAF's Red Arrows then flew overhead in formation to mark the opening of the memorial.
It remembers those who died in the largest seaborne invasion in history, as about 160,000 troops from Britain, the US, Canada, France and other Allied nations landed in Normandy.
This marked the beginning the liberation of France from the Nazis and paved the way for victory on the Western Front in World War Two.
Paul Harris said his grandfather, Private George Hanks, who died aged 30 on 7 August 1944 during the months of fighting that followed the D-Day landings, "gave up everything" to liberate Normandy and the rest of Europe.
Mr Harris told BBC Breakfast: "He went off to fight, he left my grandmother a widow with a young baby... He gave us what we have now and that memory has to be preserved."
Private Hanks was killed by an artillery shell as his company pressed ahead towards German fortifications.
His family say that only the day before he had finally received a letter containing a picture of his baby girl, Rosemary - Paul's mother.
In a video message the Prince of Wales, patron of the Normandy Memorial Trust, said it was important the memory of these "remarkable individuals should be preserved for future generations as an example of personal courage and sacrifice, for the benefit of the wider national and, indeed, international community".
"I know just how much our incomparable veterans had hoped to be in Normandy today to see their memorial for themselves" he said.
"Despite having to watch via satellite link, this in no way obscures the enormous regard, and admiration, in which we hold our veterans - or diminishes our debt of gratitude to the more than 22,000 men and women whose names are now permanently inscribed in stone in this place of honour above Gold Beach."
Full article British Normandy Memorial unveiled in France to honour veterans
A memorial honouring soldiers who died under British command on D-Day and in the fighting that followed has been unveiled in France on the 77th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
The British Normandy Memorial records the names of the 22,442 people who were killed on D-Day and at the Battle of Normandy.
It cost £30m and was designed by British architect Liam O'Connor.
Due to Covid restrictions, veterans watched the unveiling via video link.
Only a small number of people were able to attend the event in the Normandy town of Ver-sur-Mer, where the memorial is situated.
Around 100 veterans unable to travel to Normandy watched a live broadcast from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
At 11:00 BST the Last Post was played, ushering in a two-minute silence.
Meanwhile, British and French wreaths were placed in front of the D-Day Wall at the memorial in France as bagpipes played.
The RAF's Red Arrows then flew overhead in formation to mark the opening of the memorial.
It remembers those who died in the largest seaborne invasion in history, as about 160,000 troops from Britain, the US, Canada, France and other Allied nations landed in Normandy.
This marked the beginning the liberation of France from the Nazis and paved the way for victory on the Western Front in World War Two.
Paul Harris said his grandfather, Private George Hanks, who died aged 30 on 7 August 1944 during the months of fighting that followed the D-Day landings, "gave up everything" to liberate Normandy and the rest of Europe.
Mr Harris told BBC Breakfast: "He went off to fight, he left my grandmother a widow with a young baby... He gave us what we have now and that memory has to be preserved."
Private Hanks was killed by an artillery shell as his company pressed ahead towards German fortifications.
His family say that only the day before he had finally received a letter containing a picture of his baby girl, Rosemary - Paul's mother.
In a video message the Prince of Wales, patron of the Normandy Memorial Trust, said it was important the memory of these "remarkable individuals should be preserved for future generations as an example of personal courage and sacrifice, for the benefit of the wider national and, indeed, international community".
"I know just how much our incomparable veterans had hoped to be in Normandy today to see their memorial for themselves" he said.
"Despite having to watch via satellite link, this in no way obscures the enormous regard, and admiration, in which we hold our veterans - or diminishes our debt of gratitude to the more than 22,000 men and women whose names are now permanently inscribed in stone in this place of honour above Gold Beach."
Full article British Normandy Memorial unveiled in France to honour veterans
