Normandy D-Day veterans hold last ever service in memory of those who fell on beaches 65 years ago

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 21st June 2009 | Lucy Ballinger

[naturalman1975]

Some were able to march, others needed walking sticks or wheelchairs.

But all held their heads high as they paraded proudly in Whitehall to remember their fallen comrades.

Many of the veterans shed a tear yesterday as they attended the last memorial service the Normandy Veterans' Association will organise in London.

Lean on me: Albert Rogers, 84, from North London, is given a helping hand

Hundreds of D-Day veterans, smartly dressed in blazers and berets, their chests heaving with medals, gathered for the service.

At least two collapsed as the humid weather and the long time they had to spend on their feet proved too much.

Wreaths were laid at the Cenotaph in memory of those who died fighting beside them 65 years ago. Their standards were lowered as The Last Post was played, before a minute's silence, and then raised during the Reveille.

But those former soldiers who did attend the final farewell yesterday did their colleagues proud.

Veterans lay wreaths at the Cenotaph to mark the 65th anniversary of the WWII D-Day Landings, in which they fought

[CaptainMorgantown]

God bless these men who climbed up cliffs with machine guns firing at them so that I and my children could live free.

[NonValueAdded]

Mr Wintle said it was becoming increasingly difficult for the men to come to memorial events. He added: 'I'm 85 and I'm one of the younger ones. We are hoping the younger people will keep up the memorials.'

There is the charge; will the next generation pick up the baton? There is no need for this to be the last ceremony.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Canteen PING!

[Mikey]

I pray these brave souls didn't die in vain.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2270570/posts?page=1

[yarddog]

My Father who died last year at 90 was at Normandy tho he fortunately didn’t go ashore until two days after D-Day. My Sister handled the funeral and I noticed an American flag folded on the casket during the viewing and at the funeral.

I suppose they are supplied to veterans.

[fso301]

I had a teacher in Junior High who was at D-Day. Not too long (within a couple of days) after being ashore, he picked up a luger as a souvenier. No sooner had he stuck it under his belt or wherever he put it, the Germans counterattacked and he was shot.

He was on the ground bleeding with German soldiers walking about him. Knowing what would happen if they caught him with a German weapon, he tried to ditch the luger without attracting attention to the fact that he was still alive. He managed to get rid of the luger about the time the Americans counterattacked and chased the Germans off.

I don't know if he returned to the front or not after his wounds healed but if he did, I'm sure he refrained from souvenier hunting.

[Bigg Red]

Tears. God bless and keep these brave men. May they pass easily into heaven; they certainly braved hell here on earth.

[luvie]

Thanks, Ms. B. All these heroes from the Greatest Generation
are passing on....God bless them every one for what they did
to keep our world free.

[Sequoyah101]

On Memorial Day I saw a middle aged man walking the cemetary in McAlester amongst the flags checking to make sure each grave with a Veteran’s stone or bronze plaque had a flag.

The number will grow and grow and the memories fade in succession.

What happens when children, grand children and even great grand children are gone. Three generations pass and the memory fades.