Normandy Landings Celebrations

65th D-Day Landings Celebrations in Normandy

10 cadets and two officers from C Company, Durham ACF together with one Instructor from A Company Durham ACF attended the 65^th D-Day Landings Celebrations in Normandy from June 4^th to June 6^th 2008.

The Durham cadets were part of a contingent of 500 Sea, Army and Air-Cadets cadets from all over the UK, together with almost 100 officers and instructors who travelled to France to be part of this momentous event. Since most of the veterans are now well into their 80s, it is thought that this will probably be the last year when many of them will be able to travel to France to take part in the celebrations in person and the cadet forces provided a significant contingent this year to prove that the sacrifice of the veterans was not forgotten and to pick up the baton for future remembrance celebrations.

On the morning of June 5^th the Durham cadets took part in parades at Colville Montgomery, right next to Juno Beach, where British forces stormed ashore on June 6^th 1944. The cadets were fascinated to talk with the veterans, including a contingent of over 40 veterans of the Durham Light Infantry. They later visited Pegasus Bridge, where men from the second battalion, The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry landed by glider just after midnight on D-Day and stormed the bridge to secure a vital river crossing and hold the bridge to protect the British landing forces against counter-attack.

On June 6^th, the cadets lined the route into the Bayeux Cemetery to pay tribute to the veterans and standards of the various branches of the Royal British Legion who marched to the memorial. This was a big day for cadets and veterans alike as the Prince Charles, the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy and the Canadian Prime-Minister, Stephen Harper, were all present to pay tribute, whilst others attended a memorial service in Bayeux Cathedral. Following a drum-head service, the Durham cadets laid a wreath at the memorial and then placed crosses on the graves of fallen soldiers from the Durham Light Infantry and the 13^th/18^th Hussars - now part of The Light Dragoons - whose tanks were the first to lay a track on the soil of France on D-Day.

Later that day, all of the UK cadets lined the route and paraded with the veterans into the main square at Arromanches for a final act of remembrance and celebration.

The visit to Normandy was made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the Light Dragoons.