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06
Jun 2024
D-Day fallen commemorated in Harrogate ceremony
The men and women who lost their lives on D-Day 80 years ago were commemorated in a short ceremony held by the Royal British Legion this morning in Harrogate.
Around 50 members of the public gathered at the War Memorial at 11 o’clock for the event, which was presided over by Mike Comerford, chair of the Harrogate Victory branch of the Royal British Legion.
After a brief introduction, the Royal British Legion flag was lowered and Mr Comerford recited the most famous verse from Laurence Binyon’s poem, For the Fallen:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Flag-bearer: Cadet Warrant Officer Sam Crebbin, of 58 (Harrogate) Squadron Air Cadets.
There followed two minutes of impeccably observed silence, and the raising of the flag and the Kohima Epitaph:
When you go home, Tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow, We gave our today.
The Last Post was not played as the bugler was too ill to attend.
Speaking to the Stray Ferret before the ceremony, Mr Comerford, who served for 24 years in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, said:
Remembrance Sunday is always commemorated, but some of these other occasions during the week aren’t so much. But I think we should keep them in people’s minds. I’m pleased the media have kept up on it.
D-Day, on June 6, 1944, saw the largest seaborne invasion in history. Nearly 160,000 Allied troops from 13 countries crossed the English Channel by air and sea, backed by nearly 200,000 naval personnel. They landed in Normandy, in northern France, and initiated Operation Overlord, the first phase of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation.
By the end of the day, the Allies had suffered at least 10,000 casualties, with 4,414 confirmed dead. Total German casualties were as many as 9,000.
Among the onlookers at the ceremony this morning was one veteran in his fifties who had spent 30 years in the army. Preferring not to be named, he said:
I’m here to remember the fallen. I’ve got a personal interest because when I was still serving I used to take veterans back to Normandy for parades in Caen. My uncle was also in Normandy following the invasion. He ended up in Hannover and survived. I still have his diaries.
Asked if he was worried that such commemorations might die out with the passing of the last veterans of the Second World War, he said:
No, definitely not. We’ll pick up the banner and carry on. I’ve got all my medals in miniature and I’ve given them to my grandchildren to wear on their right side, so it will carry on for at least two more generations.
The flag bearer for the ceremony was 19-year-old Cadet Warrant Officer Sam Crebbin of 58 Harrogate Squadron Air Cadets, who was the only cadet old enough not to be in school for the event. She said:
It’s nice to commemorate these sorts of events. It’s important to remember those people who died and risked their lives so we could have the freedom we have now.
These are important events in our history. If we forget what they did for us, what did they do it for?
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