For a few haunting minutes, time stood still as a lone piper on a wrecked dock played the tune that inspired our troops to push on amid the horror 75 years ago.
At 7.26am today, the exact time the D-Day landings began under grey skies and heavy fire, Pipe Major Trevor Macey-Lillie sent chills down spines across the sands at Arromanches as he broke into Highland Laddie.
It was the tune Bill Millin piped at the same spot on June 6, 1944, to put steel into the hearts of Lord Lovat’s Commandos.
Wearing a Cameron tartan kilt, Millin played on as friends fell around him on Gold Beach – later learning Nazi snipers ignored him as they thought he had gone mad.
After his emotional performance, Pipe Major Macey-Lillie, from Patna, Ayrshire, said: “It was nerve-racking but I am very, very proud to be here.
“D-Day was horrendous. The number who didn’t even get off their landing craft or come off the beach.
“These people are not here to watch me. These people are here to celebrate 75 years of D-Day and celebrate with the veterans and mark the loss of their brothers in arms.”
As the dwindling band of veterans who survived that horrific day looked out at the calm English Channel beyond the village of Ver-sur-Mer and reflected on the horror they witnessed, Theresa May spoke on behalf of a grateful nation.
She said: “To our veterans, here in Normandy, I want to say the only words we can: thank you. No one could be certain what June 6 would bring. No one would know how this would turn out.
And, as the sun rose that morning, not one of the troops on the landing craft, not one of the pilots in the skies above, not one of the sailors at sea, knew whether they would still be alive when it set once again.”
Pipe Major Macey-Lillie, of 19th Regiment Royal Artillery (The Scottish Gunners), had climbed a remnant of the Mulberry Harbour shipped across from England to create an instant floating port to supply the Allies.
With the morning sun behind him, he waited patiently for his cue on the historic minute. After Highland Laddie, he played Scotland the Brave as he marched across the sands, surrounded by huge crowds.
“I played Highland Laddie because Bill Millin played it on this beach to inspire the guys to get themselves up and get going. It’s a total honour to play the same tune today, in memory of him and his comrades.”
The Prime Minister delivered her tribute in an inauguration ceremony for a new Normandy memorial to the 22,442 British troops killed there between June 5 and August 30, 1944.
She was joined by French President Emmanuel Macron to unveil a sculpture by artist David Williams-Ellis as part of the project. Until now, there has been no permanent monument with the names of every lost serviceman. The roll call will sit on a hillside overlooking Gold Beach.
At one of her final and most significant official engagements before stepping down as Conservative Party leader today, Mrs May joined President Macron to lay wreaths at the foundation stone for the memorial, which will finally give proper recognition to heroes including Lieutenant Den Brotheridge, of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
The 28-year-old was the first Allied soldier killed in action after leading the charge over Pegasus Bridge in a raid known as Operation Deadstick. His name will join that of Marine Commando Robert Casson, of 46 (Royal Marine) Commando, killed on the approach to Juno Beach three weeks before his brother, Private Joseph Casson, also died in Normandy.
Mrs May said: “Here, the names of those British men and women who lost their lives will for ever sit across the Channel from their homeland.
“These young men belonged to a very special generation, whose unconquerable spirit shaped the post-war world. They didn’t boast. They didn’t fuss. They served. And they laid down their lives so that we might have a better life and build a better world.
The memorial that will be built here will remind us of this. Of the service and sacrifice of those who fell under British Command in Normandy, of the price paid by French civilians – and of our duty, and our responsibility, to now carry the torch for freedom, for peace and for democracy.”
Veteran George Batts, 93, had led calls for a lasting memorial. He was an 18-year-old Sapper when he landed on Gold Beach on June 6 to clear mines.
George, who became national secretary of the Normandy Veterans’ Association and fought a long campaign for the tribute, said: “It is my greatest wish and that of other veterans to see this completed in our lifetimes.”
The Government has provided a £20million grant and the trust is hoping to raise a further £9million.
Praising the project, President Macron said: “It is time to remedy the fact that no memorial pays tribute to the UK’s contribution to the Battle of Normandy.”
He also said the memorial will symbolise the link between our nations, adding: “Nothing can break ties bound in bloodshed and shared values.
“The debates taking place today cannot affect the strength of our joint history and shared future.”
Meanwhile, British veterans were accompanied by four children, including Sir Winston Churchill’s great-great-grandson John Churchill, 12, as they laid flowers at the new sculpture.
And among the huge crowd on Gold Beach paying respects was Paul Rodgers, 60, a project engineer from Rotherham. He had travelled to honour his uncle, Harry Hartley, killed in the offensive aged 23.
He said: “It’s important to be here. We brought my sister’s grandson, who is 10.
“He is a bit too young to understand but we are trying to instil the significance in him. We hope to keep this memory alive, otherwise we will fall back into it.”
