Six Remaining D-Day Veterans Attend 82nd Anniversary Commemorations in Normandy as 98 New Names Added to Memorial

Veterans gathered in northern France on Saturday to mark the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings with a moment of silence. Serving military personnel, pipers from the Jedburgh Pipe Band, and schoolchildren marched alongside Henry Montgomery, grandson of British Commander Field Marshal Montgomery.

Codenamed Operation Overlord, the invasion brought nearly 160,000 Allied troops ashore on June 6, 1944.

A total of 4,414 Allied troops died that day. The subsequent Battle of Normandy cost 73,000 Allied lives and left 153,000 men wounded. Veterans attended the annual Ceremony of Remembrance at the British Normandy Memorial.

An extra 98 names have been added to the roll of honour there. This year only six Normandy veterans attended, the smallest number since the memorial opened in 2021. Henry Montgomery completed the final day of his journey "In Monty's Footsteps" by walking more than 22km across Sword, Juno and Gold beaches at the time the first troops landed.

Veteran Ken Hay spoke to GB News at the commemorations. "I don't know. It's a difficult question to answer. It's our duty to come back," he said. Pointing to the wall of names, he added: "To a lot of people, this is just a series of names and they are to us.

" "These new 98 names on a wall. It's good that they are recognized today. It's their right to be here. They've got more right to be here than I have," Hay said. He also stated: "The powers that be, they're warming up for another one.

It doesn't make sense. I bet God above is regretting giving man his free will. " D-Day veteran Dorothea Barron also attended the 82nd anniversary commemorations. She was taken across the Channel by the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans.