Forthcoming D Day 75th anniversary commemorations

This week, people throughout Britain will pay tribute to the men and women who gave their lives during D-Day and for the liberation of Europe in World War Two. 

Key facts: 
  • This year’s commemoration will be particularly poignant as we are hosting unprecedented commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day. 
  • Over 4,000 personnel will be involved in D-Day events in the UK and France – alongside representatives from every country that fought alongside the UK in Operation Overlord. 
  • We hope that D-Day75 leaves a lasting legacy and provides an opportunity for people young and old to reflect on the achievements and sacrifice of our Second World War generation. 

Why this matters: 

The sheer scale of D-Day made it such an awe-inspiring feat – and so it is right that we reflect on and celebrate the cooperation that helped to secure the freedom we cherish today.

Americans, Brits, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Poles, French, South Africans, Rhodesians, Dutch, Belgians, Czechs, & Norwegians were among the heroes who took part in D-day. The world owes an incalculable debt to every last one of them.

The sacrifice of all the people, from all the countries involved, who took part in the Normandy Landings in 1944 and the campaign to liberate Europe from one of the most evil regimes in all history must never be forgotten.

Comments

Anonymous said…
What about the rest of them that weren't at D-Day it's a shame 75 years on their sacrifice is ignored
10:46 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
Their sacrifice is not ignored.

The fact that there is a commemoration of D day and the Normandy Landings does not mean that the sacrifice of people who took part in other parts of the campaign to liberate Europe from the Nazis is not also remembered.
11:07 pm
Anonymous said…
So there will be the same pomp and circumstance for the 75th anniversary of other major campaigns? I thought not.
6:50 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
I don't know how you would measure or quantify that to do a precise comparison, but there was certainly a great deal of "pomp and circumstance" for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain four years ago.

More to the point, I think you can take to the bank that there will be a vast amount of commemorative effort next year around the 75th anniversaries of VE day and VJ day, probably more than over D-Day75 this week insofar as it can be measured.

Those two commemorations certainly will remember and include everyone who took part in the defeat of the Fascist powers.
9:34 am
Chris Whiteside said…
For corroboration of my prediction that there will be a great deal of effort put into next year's 75th anniversary of VE day see the post today (10th June) about the announcements which have just been made.

It is planned to move a bank holiday so that everyone who wishes to do other than those working in the emergency and 24/7/365 services so can spend a three-day weekend on VE day commemoration events.

9:16 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the
Read more

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Image
"Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise."  ( Cato the Elder , who lived 234 BC - 149 BC, quoted in "Lives" by Plutarch.) There is a similar saying by Germany's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck: Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have put the same saying in a more humorous form: "Wise men profit by the mistakes of others, while fools will not learn even from their own blunders." See also this thread on the "Quote Investigator" website . Let us all be wise and learn from the events of the last few days.
Read more

Quote of the day 24th July 2020

Image
I was moved to put the passage below forward as a quote today when I saw a horrible post on twitter from someone writing that it was "excellent" that someone who took a different view from her about Brexit had died. I won't write which way round it was so that all the Remain supporters can assume the post was from a Brexit fanatic welcoming the death of a remainer and all the Leavers can assume it was a Remainiac welcoming one less Brexiteer. There's been plenty of nasty stuff on both sides but if you catch anyone of your own viewpoint  posting something like that who might listen to you, please do call them out on it - and point out that they're giving everyone on your side of the argument a bad name. Anyway, here's the quote from John Donne.
Read more