King Charles honours D-Day vets who 'did not flinch' to save free world from Hitler

Our extraordinarily brave D-Day heroes simply “did not flinch” racing into the unknown in the fight for freedom.

Fearful yet determined they met danger head-on, left their landing craft and ran from the sea into the line of fire to take on tyranny.

They ultimately won the day and restored peace to Europe we have all enjoyed since.

80 years on from those seismic events King Charles paid perfect tribute to them yesterday just yards from where the carnage happened on Gold Beach.

Lauding the “Greatest Generation” at a special ceremony to mark the British forces' effort on D-Day, the nation’s warriors were told their service, valour, and sacrifice displayed during their “supreme test” will never be forgotten.

Our dwindling bunch of veterans watched on with tears in their eyes at the British Normandy Memorial at what is likely to be the last great gathering of giants from the mighty Allied invasion on June 6, 1944.

Their monarch told them: “Our gratitude is unfailing and our admiration eternal.

"How fortunate we were, and the entire free world, that a generation of men and women in the United Kingdom and other Allied nations did not flinch when the moment came to face that test.”

At a highly emotional remembrance service, attended by 41 bravehearts from the fabled campaign, Charles said: "Our ability to learn from their stories at first hand diminishes. But our obligation to remember them, what they stood for, and what they achieved for us all, can never diminish.”

The glorious edifice, overlooking Gold Beach where the British 50th (Northumbrian) Division were the first to storm ashore, records the names of 22,442 soldiers who fell on D-Day and the bloody three-month Battle of Normandy that followed.

Its limestone columns reverberated as tributes to tens of thousands of men whose young lives were cut short and the service of those who lived to tell their stories of heroism rang out.

The sights and sounds from that day remain stark and vivid for those who saw young friends cut down into the sand.

Arthur Oborne, 100, from Portishead, near Bristol, who landed just 700 metres from where the ceremony was held, was shot in the chest by a sniper during the landings but had his life saved by pal Gummy Gummerson, who bandaged his wounds with field dressings. Gummy was shot and slain alongside 26 soldiers from his unit the very next day.

Arthur received a standing ovation after telling the congregation in the shadow of the landing site where, 80 years earlier, 25,000 young men rushed ashore to liberate occupied France and Europe how heroes like Gummy fearlessly looked death in the face.

He said: “I wish I could tell him I have never taken his sacrifice for granted and will always remember him and our friends. So Gummy, thank you my old friend.”

The heart-wrenching testimony drew spontaneous applause from those who sat spellbound with tears streaming down their faces.

Charles, Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment and wearing its uniform, was seated alongside the vets and Queen Camilla, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, and was also seen to dab a tear from his eye.

Able Seaman Ron Hendrey, 98, serving on HMS Ulster, told 1,000 people gathered on hallowed ground for The Royal British Legion commemoration it was his duty to return - perhaps for the final time - to salute his brothers in arms.

He said: “It still makes me emotional, all that loss. See, I try to forget D-Day, but I can't. And when I come here, especially on June 6, I have one purpose. It is to think of the boys. I've had 80-years on this Earth since that day.

“My friends have remained under the Earth for that time. And it is so important to me that we share the same Earth once more.”

Describing the horror of D-Day, the Royal Navy hero said: “The sight will never leave my mind, ships as far as the eye could see, thousands of battleships, cruisers, landing craft…the sky was black with aircraft.

“I will never forget the captain's words. He said, ‘You are about to go into France to begin the liberation of Europe. I want you to give 101% of your efforts in the next 24 hours. Do your best for everyone you serve. Take care. I wish you all the best.’

“We were terrified. I've never heard a ship go so quiet. It just went silent, because we were all thinking the same thing. ‘Is this my last day on Earth?’

Joe Mines, 99, from Hornchurch, Essex, serving with the 2nd battalion Hertfordshire Regiment and who landed on Gold Beach, said: “I’ve never been back here in 80 years. I've often thought, what do I go back for? After all the terrible things I've seen. Like a picture book up there, I can visualise everything.

“That was the first job I got, clearing mines. All over the place they were. Joe Mines, clearing mines.

“I was 19 when I landed but I was still a boy. I don't get what people say. I wasn't a man, I was a boy. And I didn't have any idea of war and killing. I was lucky. I had lots and lots of luck. So why would I come back? Well this is the last and only opportunity for me. The last there will ever be and it's because of the lads. I want to pay my respects to those who didn't make it. May they rest in peace.”

French schoolchildren presented the parade of veterans, many of whom were seated in wheelchairs, white roses in a gesture that moved them to tears.

His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, was the last serving head of state in uniform during the Second World War and on D-Day.

During the 1939-45 conflict his father Prince Philip, who died aged 99 in 2021, served aboard HMS Valiant in the Battle of the Mediterranean and the destroyer HMS Wallace during the Allied invasion of Sicily. Queen Camilla’s father, Major Bruce Shand, served at the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa in 1942 and passed away in 2006 aged 89.

On the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, as Prince of Wales, accompanied his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, then 91, to commemorations in Portsmouth, from where much of the naval armada left for Normandy during the reign of her father, George VI.

It was there she said: “The wartime generation - my generation - is resilient. It is with humility and pleasure, on behalf of the entire country – indeed the whole free world – that I say to you all, thank you.”

George VI gave a speech on D-Day in which he said: “Now once more a supreme test has to be faced. This time, the challenge is not to fight to survive but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause.

“Once again what is demanded from us all is something more than courage and endurance; we need a revival of spirit, a new unconquerable resolve.

“After nearly five years of toil and suffering, we must renew that crusading impulse on which we entered the war and met its darkest hour. We and our Allies are sure that our fight is against evil and for a world in which goodness and honour may be the foundation of the life of men in every land.”

Echoing his grandfather's stirring words, Charles said: “They carried out their duty with humility, resolve and determination - qualities so characteristic of that remarkable generation.

“It is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all who served at that critical time.”

Stan Hollis, Company Sergeant Major with D Company, 6th Battalion Green Howards, was one of the first to step foot on Gold Beach at 07.32 and was awarded the only Victoria Cross of D-Day. The youngest soldier to die was just 16, while the oldest was 64.

Lionhearts at the service, including Dennis Donovan, 100, Ken Cooke, Stan Ford, and George Horner, all 98, were saluted by Charles, who later laid a wreath at the memorial which was inaugurated in 2019 but staging its first major anniversary commemoration for a day that changed the world forever.

Earlier Rishi Sunak said the service and sacrifice of all who served was a debt that can never be repaid but will never be forgotten.

The Prime Minister later pushed wheelchair-bound former RAF Sergeant Bernard Morgan, 100, a code-breaker who landed on Gold Beach, from the memorial to a reception.

The glittering service ended with the Royal Marines Band Service playing I Vow To Thee My Country, Sir Tom Jones performing I Won’t Crumble With You If You Fall before a spectacular Red Arrows flypast spewed red, white and blue above the clear skies of Normandy in a fitting climax to a remarkable week.