The grandson of the commander of the Allied land forces for D-Day said “remembrance is something that should be active in our lives” while in Normandy for commemorations to mark the 82nd anniversary of D-Day.
Commemorations started on Saturday with French schoolchildren, serving military personnel, the grandson of British commander Field Marshal Montgomery and pipers from the Jedburgh Pipe Band walking across Juno Beach to mark H-Hour, the time at which British servicemen were deployed.
Veterans made the journey to France and attended the annual Ceremony of Remembrance at the British Normandy Memorial and key figures in the success of the landings were honoured, including Field Marshal Montgomery.
His grandson Henry Montgomery completed the final day of his journey “In Monty’s Footsteps” by walking more than 22km across Sword, Juno and Gold beaches – at the very time the first troops landed on Saturday.
Each step of his two-month journey across Britain and north-western France honoured the lives of more than 22,000 men and women whose names are engraved on the British Normandy Memorial.
Mr Montgomery, who is a trustee of the British Normandy Memorial, is raising money for Operation Remembrance – the education programme of the British Normandy Memorial.
After the service, he said: “I think that we have very formal remembrance ceremonies, but sometimes we just do that, and then we don’t continue to remember, it doesn’t sort of necessarily affect how we behave on a day-to-day basis or what we think about, so I think remembrance is something that should be active in our lives regularly, that we need to remember the freedoms that people died for, and we need to therefore be responsible in how we take advantage of those freedoms, and I think that I’ve sort of grown to learn, I think, really by meeting veterans.
“And I think it’s something that’s quite important for younger generations to learn and understand and reflect on, so that’s really what the purpose of Operation Remembrance is.”
Mr Montgomery’s target is £225,400, £10 for each of the 22,540 people who are named on the British Normandy Memorial.
He said: “Stories are fundamental to Operation Remembrance.
“So we have collected something like 1,000 stories for the 22,500 people, but that means that we’ve got 21,500 stories that we don’t have, and people must know stories for those 21,500 that we haven’t got stories.
“And one of the things that has happened as a result of my journey is I’ve actually been able to uncover stories, so I think wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could have school education projects where they actually started by looking at the war memorials in their own little towns and villages and actually looked at the names of those people and started to find out, well, who are these people? Where did they live? What did they do?”
Mr Montgomery added: “I think stories are at the heart of it, and they are certainly what’s impacted me.”
Meanwhile, the great-great-grandson of Winston Churchill, 11-year-old Alexander Churchill, read a prayer during the ceremony said by Admiral Horatio Nelson on the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said in a statement: “Eighty-two years ago, on the shores of Normandy, extraordinary sailors, soldiers and airmen from across the Allied nations showed the world courage in its purest form.
“Their sacrifice, their determination, and their unbreakable belief in freedom changed the course of history.
“D-Day stands as an enduring reminder of the valour of those who fought then, and of all who continue to defend our freedom today.”
Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed on June 6 1944 to fight Nazi-occupied France.
While the exact number of German casualties is unknown, historians estimate between 4,000 and 9,000 men were killed, wounded or missing.
On the Allied front, a total of 4,414 died.
The Battle of Normandy, which followed the landings, saw 73,000 Allied lives lost with 153,000 men wounded.
Veterans braved the elements at Bayeux War Cemetery for the service of commemoration.
Organised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Royal British Legion, the event honoured lives lost in the presence of some of the few remaining UK veterans.
More than 4,000 servicemen are buried at Bayeux War Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth cemetery of the Second World War in France.
On Saturday morning, a line-up of veterans were wheeled to the front of the ceremony, sat ahead of military and political representatives of the UK, including Defence Secretary John Healey.
The sun pierced through intermittent rain clouds as 100-year-old veteran Ken Hay stood to pronounce the remembrance poem, before observing a minute of silence, tissue to his face.
Wreaths were laid at the foot of the stone building on which more than 22,000 names are engraved.
Richard Brock, 102, recited remembrance poem Kohima Epitaph, before laying a wreath accompanied by members of the Portsmouth Choir.
Other veterans in attendance included Ken Benbow, 100, Marjorie Hanson, 103, and Roy Horner, 94.
Members of Unesco were also in attendance as there is a bid to make the Normandy beaches a World Heritage Site.
Mr Healey said in a statement: “On the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, we pay tribute to all those who took part in the Normandy Landings and the campaign that followed. Their courage changed the course of history and helped the secure peace for generations.
“We remember those who never returned home, and recognise our responsibility today to safeguard their legacy and the freedoms they fought for.”
This year the smallest number of Normandy veterans attended the ceremony since the memorial opened in 2021, with only six confirmed.
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