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William pays tribute to ‘ultimate sacrifice’ of D-Day fallen at memorial service

More than 2,000 people including 20 veterans of the Normandy Landings attended

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D-Day 75th anniversary

The Duke of Cambridge has laid a wreath to those who made “the ultimate sacrifice” during a service of commemoration marking the 75th anniversary of the Normandy Landings.

Prince William joined more than 2,000 people, including some 20 D-Day veterans, for a service in Heroes’ Square, National Memorial Arboretum, before paying his respects at the Normandy Campaign Memorial.

He spent about an hour with veterans who each played a role in the successful Allied assault of the heavily fortified Nazi-occupied coastline of Northern France on June 6, 1944.

The Duke addressed the ranks of visitors, many of whom bore medals, wore berets, or carried other tokens to show their service to the country.

Veterans attend the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire for a service to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings
Veterans at the National Memorial Arboretum (Richard Vernalls/PA)

In a short reading, he delivered the D-Day address originally made by his great-grandfather King George VI in 1944.

He said: “Four years ago our nation and empire stood alone against an overwhelming enemy, with our backs to the wall.

“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.

“At this historic moment surely not one of us is too busy, too young, or too old to play a part in a nationwide, perchance a world-wide vigil of prayer as the great crusade sets forth.”

The Duke of Cambridge arrives at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, for a service to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings
William arrives at the National Memorial Arboretum (Peter Byrne/PA)

As The Last Post signalled the beginning of two-minutes’ silence, veterans bowed their heads and remembered absent friends.

Among those attending was 100-year-old Pixie Jenkins, a former Wren in the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

As a 21-year-old, Mrs Jenkins helped drive troops and equipment to Newhaven Docks in East Sussex in the the build-up to D-Day and throughout the Normandy Landings.

The centenarian, from Aldridge, near Walsall, West Midlands, was among a handful of veterans who have been able to travel to the special service in Staffordshire.

Reflecting on the anniversary, she said: “I think the men that went over were wonderful and I hope the younger people today realise how fortunate they are to have people like that.

“I think so many youngsters today have forgotten about the men.

“They look at them and think ‘they’re old men now’ – to them they’re just old men.

“And they’re not, they are wonderful, wonderful men that went over.

“I salute them all.”

D-Day 75th anniversary
Former WREN Pixie Jenkins. (Richard Vernalls/PA Wire)

Later, the Duke laid a wreath carrying a personal message, which read: “In memory of all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. We will remember them. William.”

As Prince William stepped forward to place the poppy wreath on the Normandy Landings Memorial, the day’s bright sunshine disappeared behind black clouds, bringing a brief deluge of rain.

It later prompted former Royal Engineer Don Sheppard, who still carries a sliver of shrapnel in his lung from a German shell fired on D-Day, to recall the dreadful conditions crossing the English Channel.

“It was rough,” said the 99-year-old, from Basildon, Essex.

Don Sheppard
D-Day veteran Don Sheppard, who carries shrapnel in his lung from the fighting that day (Richard Vernalls/PA Wire)

Already a veteran of the North African campaign against Rommel and the tough battles through Sicily, Mr Sheppard’s brigade went in on D-Day in support of the Canadians at Juno Beach.

His unit was then sent forward to Pegasus Bridge, captured by British paratroopers in the first hours of the battle, and ordered to blow it up if a predicted German counter-attack threatened the Normandy beachhead.

The attack did not materialise, but the hard-fighting continued as he and his comrades spent three months fighting crack German troops dug in among the thick hedgerows, known as the bocage.

He said: “One tank could hold up a whole battalion in that country.

“I think that time in the Orne valley was worse than D-Day.

“At Chateau St Come, around near Ranville and Breville, we lost 110 guys there in one night.

“Another time, a platoon from the Black Watch set off and the Germans were in the ditches.

“The platoon got slaughtered.”

Mr Sheppard was among the veterans sharing their stories with the Prince, as was Mrs Jenkins.

Vic Brunt
Vic Brunt, who served aboard a tank landing craft which ended up beached and under-fire for 12 hours (Richard Vernalls/PA Wire)

Also chatting to the Duke was ex-Royal Navy serviceman Vic Brunt, now in his 90s, who was on a tank landing craft at Gold Beach.

He told the Duke how, on the day, his vessel beached to unload equipment but then ended up stranded under German gunfire – and also hit a mine going in.

Mr Brunt, twice a former mayor of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, said: “You’re supposed to haul yourself off before the tide changes – but our ship missed the tide.

“So we had to wait for 12 hours. It wasn’t the best place to be.”

Prince William asked what his “abiding memory” of that day had been.

Mr Brunt replied: “I was only 19. I didn’t know fear.

“I remember the shock of the bodies floating in the water and the destruction going on around.

“If you were lucky, you missed the worst of it.”

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