Vigils held as children honour D-Day fallen

4 June 2024

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Children took part in a vigil on Tuesday as D-Day commemorations are held across Normandy to mark 80 years since the landings.
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The Royal Irish Regiment was part of the commemoration at Cambes-en-Plaine, where Royal Ulster Rifles soldiers fought in the days after D-Day.
Image source, PA Media
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The Normandy landings were the largest seaborne invasion in history and laid the foundations for the Allied victory in World War Two. On Tuesday, a Brittany Ferries ship, carrying D-Day veterans, was escorted by HMS Cattistock as it set sail from Portsmouth.
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The veterans brought the commemoration torch with them.
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The flame will be used to light candles across the Commonwealth war graves.
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A military flypast was held as the veterans arrived in Normandy.
Image source, Reuters
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French and US soldiers took part in an amphibious landing operation showcase at Omaha Beach. Troops from the UK, US, Canada and France attacked German forces on the coast of northern France on 6 June 1944.
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Arlette Gondrée was four years old when her house at Pegasus Bridge was the first to be liberated on 6 June.
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Margaret Brotheridge’s father Den was among the first Allied soldiers to be killed in the early moments of D-Day.
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Ouistreham Mayor Romain Bail says young people are involved throughout the ceremonies to pass on the testimony of D-Day.
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Nathaniel Magill from Belfast is one of almost 200 Royal Ulster Rifles soldiers with graves in Normandy.
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There is a road named in honour of the Royal Ulster Rifles north of Caen which they helped to liberate.

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