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by Mick the Ram
When faced with what his grandfather described as the “supreme test”, King Charles III stated that the world was fortunate that the allies of that generation “did not flinch”.
The monarch was making a speech at the National Memorial in Normandy as part of a moving commemoration service, remembering the fallen at the landing beaches on D-Day.
The King, dressed in military uniform, was in attendance with Queen Camilla, at the relatively new facility built just a couple of years ago overlooking “Gold” beach, to be a lasting memorial to the thousands of service personnel in British units who gave their lives, both on the 6th June 1944 and the subsequent Battle of Normandy.
He spoke of the “unfailing gratitude and eternal admiration” for all those involved, before in accompaniment with French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, wreaths were laid as a mark of respect and remembrance.
Their Majesties each looked emotional throughout a moving service in which the memories of the handful of veterans who were able to make the journey across, were read out to an appreciative audience.
Heavy defences awaited the troops
The tranquillity of the surroundings could not have been more contrasting from the horrific scenes that greeted the troops 80 years before.
Even though a clever deception plan in the preceding weeks had led the Germans to expect the main invasion further along the coast, the beaches were still heavily defended.
The British landed at “Gold” and “Sword” beaches and in total, on D-Day and the summer weeks beyond, 22,442 of them would lose their lives.
Pride in the National Memorial
The memorial is built on the site of the small village where the British 50 Infantry Division landed, just along from “Gold” beach and is a magnificent tribute to the fallen men, something acknowledged by King Charles, who told of his pride in finally having a permanent National Memorial in Normandy.
He pointed to the walls and pillars and the inscriptions that adorn them, of men and women from more than thirty different nations and of many different faiths.
“United, they fought together for what my grandfather, King George VI, described as ‘a world in which goodness and honour may be the foundation of the life of men in every land.’”
Humbling qualities
He called the way in which the armed forces had carried out their duty had been with a “humbling sense of resolve and determination” and highlighted that those were qualities so characteristic of the remarkable wartime generation.
He commented that it should be with “the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them”.
“We will remember them”
This was the seventh D-Day commemoration service that he had attended in Normandy he told the audience, and he recalled meeting many distinguished veterans at them all.
He stressed that it was “our obligation to remember them,” insisting that “what they stood for and what they achieved for us all, can never diminish.”
Special message for the French
His majesty also made sure to pay tribute to the French, recognising that the memorial stands as a special homage to what he described as “the unimaginable numbers” of French civilians who died in the joint battle for freedom.
He spoke of the “unbelievable courage and sacrifice” of the men and women of the French Resistance and many ordinary people, who provided “vital intelligence, cut off supplies and communications, and laid critical ambushes.”
Remembering fallen comrades
At the conclusion of the service the King saluted throughout the playing of the Last Post and the period of silence that followed it.
Some of the veterans, who were all around 100-years-old, did the same, whilst those confined to their wheelchairs closed their eyes, no doubt remembering their comrades who they lost just a few hundred yards away, eight decades before.
Special award from Head of State
President Macron thanked the King for his words and said that the presence of the royal couple meant a lot to everyone in France.
He then turned his attention to an astonishing lady who was a veteran officer in the Women’s Royal Naval Service during the war. Christian Lamb had helped plan the D-Day landings from Churchill’s secret war rooms in London.
Mr Macron said: “You were one of the heroes in the shadows,” before awarding the 103-year-old the Legion d’honneur medal. “You have set us an example we will not forget,” he added, before pinning the highest French decoration on her lapel.
D-Day a success despite the losses
A total of 156,000 soldiers were sent to attack five beaches in Normandy, with the US attacking “Utah” and “Omaha” beaches, and “Juno” beach the destination for the Canadians. On D-Day alone over 4,000 Allied soldiers died, and both the Americans and Canadians also held services of remembrance.
D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion ever attempted, and although progress through Normandy was slow and bloody, the success of D-Day allowed numerical advantage to shift to the allies and by late August 1944 Paris was liberated, followed eventually by the rest of Europe.
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