Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told D-Day veterans “we owe you everything” as he addressed the audience at the UK’s national commemoration event in Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The Prime Minister said: “Each of you who contributed that day - sailor, soldier, aviator, civilian - whether you fought on the beaches, or parachuted from the skies, or flew fighters or gliders, whether you were an engineer or a radio operator or an intelligence officer, your actions freed a continent and built a better world.
“You risked everything and we owe you everything.
“We cannot possibly hope to repay that debt but we can and we must pledge never to forget.”
He told told the audience in Ver-sur-Mer that veterans had “taught generations of young people about the horrors of war”, adding: “Yet with each passing year, it falls now to those of us who listened in awe to your stories to pass them on to our own children and grandchildren.
“Because only by remembering can we make certain that the cause you fought for, that so many of your friends and colleagues died for, that great cause of freedom, peace and democracy, will never be taken for granted.”
Actor Martin Freeman read the words of Joe Mines, a D-Day veteran who landed on Gold Beach 80 years ago and was present at the commemorative event held in Normandy this morning.
In the message read by the actor, Mr Mines, 99, form Hornchurch, said he had come back “to pay my respect to those who didn’t make it”.
Mr Mines smiled and waved to applause from the audience as Mr Freeman concluded his speech and sat down next to the veteran.
