May and Macron praise those who fought on D-day and acknowledge shared history on 75th anniversary

Among the rows of stark white headstones marking a generation of doomed youth, those who survived gathered to pay tribute to those who did not.

Hundreds of Normandy veterans, blue-blazered, chest-bars weighted with medals, sat before the Cross of Sacrifice at Bayeux military cemetery for a service of remembrance attended by the Prince of Wales and the prime minister, Theresa May, on the 75th anniversary of D-day.

Their number is smaller now. Age is defeating them. But as Royal British Legion standards dipped in respect, and the buglers’ last post heralded a two-minute silence broken only by birdsong, they stood, or sat, as straight as their advanced years permitted.

Bayeux, the first city to be liberated, is the last resting place of more than 4,100 Commonwealth servicemen. Hundreds of people made clear their gratitude, lining the city’s cobbled streets as veterans made their way to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A veteran looks at graves at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Bayeux, France Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

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May, in one of her final engagements as Conservative party leader, paid tribute to the “raw courage” of all who stormed the beaches and fought in the villages, towns and copses during the Battle of Normandy.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, at a ceremony to inaugurate a memorial to the British fallen, highlighted the ties binding France and the UK.

“Nothing will break them. Nothing can ever break ties that have been bound in bloodshed and shared values. The debates taking place today cannot affect the strength of our joint history and our shared future,” he said.

A tri-service guard of honour and fanfare greeted Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, as they arrived at the cemetery with May and her husband, Philip.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall attended the commemorations in Bayeux. Photograph: Chris Jackson/POOL/EPA

Frank Baugh, 95, from Doncaster, gave powerful testimony of arriving at Sword beach at H-hour, his words resonating with so many others there.

As a Royal Navy signalman with the Landing Craft Infantry, his task was to ferry in 200 troops from Newhaven, he said in an address at the service. As they approached the beach, they took a direct hit which caused a fire and holed the craft below the waterline. Many were injured. The others had to make for the beach. “My most abiding memory is seeing the boys we had been talking to a minute before cut down by machine gun fire,” he said. “They fell into water, floating face down. We couldn’t get them out. We couldn’t help them. And that is my most abiding memory that I can’t forget.”

In a pre-recorded interview with the BBC, Prince Charles paid tribute to those who had fallen. “This country lost countless special people and we owe it to them and their families to go on commemorating this,” he said.

Of the veterans, he said: “They always remember their comrades and their friends and the people they had to leave behind.”

The 75th anniversary was particularly poignant. “It’s probably the last chance to pay everlasting respect to these remarkable people who wanted above all to do their duty,” he added.

John McOwan, 98, from Peebles, Scotland, who was a sergeant with the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers and landed on Sword beach four days after D-day, said: “The service was very emotional. The tears were running down my face because it was so touching.“

There were ceremonies and services hosted all across the D-day beaches. In the small seaside town of Arromanches, elderly veterans mingled with D-day tourists – many in replica second world war uniforms, some driving vintage military vehicles – who packed into the town’s streets.

The veterans linked arms to join in with a rendition of We’ll Meet Again.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lewis Trinder, 95, who spent D-day anchored off Gold beach. Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA

In the town’s small square, overlooking Gold beach and the remnants of the Mulberry harbour, Lewis Trinder, 95, read the Exhortation at a service of remembrance attended by Tobias Ellwood, the minister for defence.

“I’ve been coming here every year for at least the last 20 years,” said Trinder, from Aldershot, who was an able seaman aboard HMS Magpie. He spent D-day anchored off Gold beach, and remained there for three days “in case something went wrong and we were needed”.

“This is my second home,” he said. “Everybody knows me here. My friends are here. I don’t go to the cemeteries, they’re miserable places. Always Arromanches. It’s wonderful.”

There were bagpipes, and a flypast by a Dakota and Spitfire from the Battle of Britain Memorial flight.

At the end of the service, several veterans paraded through the crowded streets. Many were in wheelchairs. Some lent on carers. Other walked with just a stick. All were determined.



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Before the cemetery commemorations, more than 1,000 people attended a Royal British Legion remembrance service at Bayeux Cathedral, including the defence secretary, Penny Mordaunt, and the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who described the service as “beautiful and inclusive”.

In a touching tribute, six-year-old George Sayer proudly wore his great-uncle’s war medals to Bayeux war cemetery, and was allowed to join the veterans as they walked the half-mile from the town’s cathedral to cemetery.

His great-uncle, also called George Sayer, who was in one of the first landing craft on Sword beach on D-day, had planned to mark the anniversary at Bayeux, but died 18 months ago, aged 93.

“Uncle George’s son Kerry requested that little George wear his medals,” said little’s George’s grandmother, Pat Sayer. George’s parents, Jo, 46, and Adam, 49, from Chipping Ongar in Essex, watched with other family members as George held hands with veteran Jack Quinn, 95, a former Royal Marine from Lincolnshire.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest George Sayer with Jack Quinn. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Earlier, May and Macron attended the launch of construction work for the new British Normandy memorial, overlooking Gold beach at Ver-sur-Mer, which will record the names of all 22,442 members of the British armed forces who died in the landings and ensuing battle.

“Standing here, as the waves wash quietly on to the shore, it is almost impossible to grasp the raw courage that it must have taken that day to leap out from landing craft and into the surf – despite the fury of the battle,” May said, addressing invited guests. It was “truly humbling” to stand looking across the beaches “with the men who were there on that day”, she added.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Theresa May addressed invited guests at an earlier launch of construction work for the new British Normandy memorial, overlooking Gold beach at Ver-sur-Mer. Photograph: Ben Shread/AP

“If one day can be said to have determined the fate of generations to come – in France, in Britain, in Europe and the world – that day was 6 June 1944.”

Wreaths were laid at the foundation stone of the memorial, including one by Sir Winston Churchill’s great-great grandson, John Churchill. Depicting three British soldiers storming the beaches, the memorial is expected to be completed within a year.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Emmanuel Macron appeared to pay tribute to Theresa May in his address. Photograph: Ben Shread/AP

Macron said: “The British people have long dreamed of this memorial.” He also appeared to pay tribute to May in the last gasps of her premiership. “Leaders may come and go but their achievements remain. The force of our friendship will outlast current events,” he said.