65th anniversary of Normandy landings

Second World War veterans Richard Morgan, 87, and George Brown, 85, were among the hundreds who risked their lives in the 1944 operation that marked a turning point in the course of the war.

They joined other surviving members of the Normandy Veterans’ Association (NVA), as well as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth, at London’s Westminster Abbey for an evensong service.

The Queen’s cousin, the Duke of Gloucester – who is patron of the NVA – also attended the service, where he gave a reading and laid a wreath at the grave of the Unknown Warrior.

The veterans’ organisation, formed in 1981, said membership is declining and is expecting yesterday’s service to be among the last mass events it will hold.

The landings, in June 1944, which were carried out to establish Allied troops on Normandy soil, constituted the largest amphibious operation in history.

British, US and Canadian forces landed simultaneously at five points along the Normandy shoreline and began the liberation of France.

A group of ten veterans were supposed to travel from the North-East, but eight were unable to attend due to ill-health.

Mr Morgan and Mr Brown set off from Darlington Station at 8.32am with friends and relatives.

Mr Brown, from Hunwick, near Crook, County Durham, was in the Royal Navy Commandos, who were among the first military forces to land.

Mr Brown, who has five medals including the France and Germany and Burma stars, said: “I think it is really nice that they are having this service for us.

“We were one of the first groups to land. It was quite frightening. We had to land and clear a road from the beach for the others to go down.”

Mr Morgan, from Thornaby, near Stockton, has four medals including the France and Germany star.

A member of the Royal Engineers in the Second World War, Mr Morgan was only 21 on D-Day. He took part in a successful mission to establish a harbour to enable Allied boats to dock.

He said: “It is very nice that they are holding this service.

I am a practising Christian and it means a lot. You don’t get the chance to go to a service in Westminster Abbey very often.”