Parachutes

On our first visit to Le Mans in 1989, we made our way down through Normandy and visited many of the sites associated with D Day. I bought this mug from the museum at Ste Marie Eglise, the site of some of the first paratroop landings on 6th June 1944.
I’ve been watching a lot of the 80th anniversary programmes on the BBC and I think the thing that has struck me the most is just how few veterans are now left. It was the 45th anniversary in 1989 and everywhere we went, we came across large groups of veterans, not only around the beaches but in most of the towns and villages we passed through. They would have been around the age I am now back then, and it is sobering to see how the intervening years have taken a toll of their numbers.
I doubt there will be any veterans left by the 90th anniversary, but I’m sure that those of us who owe our freedom to their sacrifice will continue to commemorate the event for many, many years to come.
Personally speaking, I fully intend to visit the British Memorial at Gold Beach in the next few years. It was not even thought of, never mind built, the last time we were in France, and I think that it is definitely a place that should be visited to contemplate and commemorate the events of 80 years ago today.