Many thanks to all those who gathered in the Jubilee Garden last night and joined in the commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, the largest naval, air and land operation in history.
The proceedings began with the Chair of the Parish Council reading an excerpt from the address by the Pageantmaster for the D-Day celebrations which drew attention to the extraordinary numbers involved in the invasion. 132,500 troops were landed on five Normandy beaches, more than 180,000 paratroopers were dropped into the invasion area and air crews flew 14, 674 sorties to support the landings.
It was not only America, Britain and Canada who were involved; many other countries sent personnel to help: Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, France, Greece, New Zealand, Norway, Rhodesia and Poland.
This was the opportunity for us all to remember the bravery and sacrifice of over 209,000 casualties of Operation Overlord and the long and bloody campaign that followed.
It was very interesting to find out that the aircrew of the 486th Bomb group flew several sorties from our own airfield.
As sadly the beacon was not available, lights were placed around the pergola and at 9.15 they were all lit up including those that people had brought with them.
After this, Reverend Faith read the International Tribute and this was followed by a minute’s silence.
The poem written by a Chelsea Pensioner and commisioned for the event was then read out.
It was a glorious evening (the weather being exactly the same as that on the actual day 80 years ago!) and the garden was looking particularly beautiful. Many thanks to Chris Francis who had spent the day making sure that the grass was mown for the event.
