The Fillongley Knit and Natter group in Warwickshire have been marking the anniversary of D-Day with these knitted figures.

They are on display around the village.

Image source, Heather Badham

Image source, Heather Badham

Heather Badham, who shared the photos with us, said there were plans to light a beacon in the village tonight and there will be a firework display too.

The knitted figures line the route from the centre of the village to the spot where the bonfire will be lit.

Throughout the week we have been hearing some powerful D-Day stories, including that of Able Seaman Gunner Bert James from Stoke-on-Trent.

He was one of the sailors responsible for transporting soldiers to Sword Beach and his daughter Ann Ansell from Werrington in Staffordshire has travelled to Normandy this week to remember him.

Standing on the beach, she said: "To this day I just cannot comprehend what he went through. What all those other lads went through.

"Looking at the water as it is today and thinking that was full."

She was there with her son Michael, who said: "He would have had the cold, the wet, obviously he didn't know what was coming to face him.

"I can imagine he was probably quite nervous. He probably kept himself to himself."

Sophie Keatley and Bella Noke were among those watching the D-Day commemorations in Worcester earlier and they were very moved by what they saw.

Ms Noke said: "Quite emotional actually, reflecting on what happened 80 years ago, the guys who lost their lives.

"They were 18,19, 20 years old."

Ms Keatley added: "I think it's really important, my stepdad was in the army and fought in the Gulf War and I think it's really important to pass that on.

"Otherwise that history is just simply lost."

We have come together to celebrate those who gave their lives away, said parade marshal John Walters.

The 77-year-old led the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regimental Association's D-Day parade in Worcester.

The former Colour Sergeant said he was "very emotional" and had "cried his eyes out again" at the TV coverage of the anniversary, as he lost three great uncles during the assault 80 years ago.

Pupils at the Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College in Worcester have been speaking with pride about its founder, Frank Doran, this week.

He enlisted into the army when he was 18 and two years later fought in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Mr Doran, now 100 and still living in Worcester, spoke to current pupils on the 80th anniversary of the landings, to tell his story.

One of the pupils, Toby, said: "I think it's just amazing really because even though he could have been shot at any point he just stuck on with it."

Another, Asha, said: "I just can't imagine being put in those shoes, going through all of that, going to a different country fighting for his country."

And Rafi added: "I can't even imagine how brave everyone had to be."

Towns and villages all over the country have been paying tribute to the men and women who gave their lives with silhouettes like the ones seen here.

These figures were photographed by Pippa Hodgetts in Sheriffhales, Shropshire.

Image source, Pippa Hodgetts

Image source, Pippa Hodgetts

The assaults on 6 June started with airborne troops being dropped behind enemy lines in the early hours.

Mr Marsh said he thanked his "lucky stars" they were there to prepare for the main attack.

“You felt frightened to death but you daren’t show it," he said.

"You were frightened to show it to your mates, but they were all the same. We knew what was happening, we knew what could happen and we were expecting it.”

The 99-year-old says looking back, he wouldn’t have missed it.

“At the time I didn’t fancy it all. But looking back now in hindsight, it’s something I wouldn’t want to ever go through again but something I wouldn’t have missed.”

Gunner and radio operator Les Marsh, from Halesowen, recalled passing over the Isle of Wight as he went to Normandy from Portsmouth as a 19-year-old.

He said: “I remember someone saying, ‘there’s the Needles – take a good look at them as it might be the last time you see any part of England'."

Responsible for driving the vehicle off the landing craft, his first experience of combat was landing on Gold Beach in Normandy.

“I just had this feeling and thought ‘somehow I’m going to get through it’ and by golly I did."

Richard Gibson from Hereford has taken his World War Two Jeep to Normandy as part of a Military Vehicle Trust convoy.

"Everywhere you drive there's World War Two Jeeps coming towards you, trucks, armoured vehicles," he said.

Mr Gibson, who is in France with his grandson Rory, described it as a privilege, and at times, a very moving experience.

Today, on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, they would spend time on the seafront in Luc-sur-Mer reflecting on the significance of what happened eight decades ago, he said.

Image source, Richard Gibson

This was the scene in Worcester, where members of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regimental Association gathered for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Landing under the cover of darkness, the first airborne troops had a novel way of communicating.

They were equipped with clickers, manufactured by Acme Whistles in Birmingham.

Paratroopers would click the devices if they detected someone nearby - two clicks in response meant it was a friend, rather than foe.

Seven thousand of the devices were made, but not many remain.

Following an appeal five years ago, one was found in a drawer by a soldier's daughter a "stone's throw" from where it was made.

Liz Campbell found the clicker while sorting through her father Geoffrey Bond's possessions.

Image source, Acme Whistles

Chris Bryan-Smith from Oswestry will be remembering his twin uncles today, who were killed while serving with the RAF during the war.

Squadron Leader Martin Bryan-Smith was shot down on the morning of D-Day after returning home from a bombing run over German gun emplacements between Utah and Omaha beaches.

He was the tail gunner on a Lancaster bomber and had served since the outbreak of the war and he is commemorated at the RAF Memorial for lost Airmen at Runnymede.

The remains of his aircraft were finally found in 2012.

Image source, Chris Bryan-Smith

Four years earlier, Martin's brother Pilot Officer Anthony Bryan-Smith was killed when his Handley Page Hampden L4043 crashed on a beach close to Sunderland.

Most of the crew survived as they escaped the stalling plane, but P/O Bryan Smith, also a rear gunner was not able to get out in time.

Chris Bryan-Smith said his father would not talk about them unless pressed.

Even then he would only say: “That’s what happens in war, those that remain must carry on – but I will never forget the twins”.

Bernard Morgan from Crewe signed up to join the war effort on his 18th birthday.

He chose the Royal Air Force and wanted to fly, but on a test flight suffered with air sickness so was told he would have to stay on the ground.

Once it was discovered he could type, he was tasked with typing daily orders. One day he was told to type up a call for volunteers to the Code and Cypher unit which came with the promise of overseas service. Bernard put his name down, passed his interview and began his specialist training.

On D-Day he landed in Normandy on Gold Beach, on a Bedford truck carrying the large cypher machine used to decode orders.

He said he was "frightened to death".

This was the moment this morning that troops, veterans and hundreds of others remembered the D-Day dead on Sword beach.

Thousands of allied troops died on the five beaches.

Brian Compston's father, Sid, from Malvern was the beachmaster's bodyguard at Sword Beach, and was shot in the back during the assault.

The beachmaster was in overall command of the operation on the beach, said Mr Compston.

"He [Sid] was one of the first people ashore," said his son, who spoke to BBC Hereford and Worcester's Tammy Gooding.

A Warwickshire man has become closer to family members he never knew he had, after doing some D-Day research.

Jason Woods from Warwickshire discovered he was related to Pte George Brueton, who died in Normandy two weeks after the landings.

Pte Brueton was 19 when he signed up with the British Expeditionary Force at the start of the war, aged just 19 and was one of the soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk.

He later took part in the D-Day landings, but was killed on 24 June 1944.

Image source, Richard Woods

Inspired by their story, Mr Woods created a memorial to his grandfather's second cousin and the 153 other members of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment who lost their lives in Normandy.

He then told the story on BBC Midlands Today last summer and to his surprise, within 10 minutes he received a call from two of Pte Brueton's nieces, who had been watching the programme.

He said: "I'd no idea of any close family members being still alive, so I was speechless for about 20 minutes."

Among the D-Day stories we've been telling this week is that of 104-year-old Harry Garthwaite from Birmingham.

He was an RAF pilot who flew officers into Normandy during the invasion.

Mr Garthwaite has appeared on large digital screens in London and Portsmouth in a campaign by Blind Veterans UK charity to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Operation Overlord.

Image source, Blind Veterans UK

He told the charity he remembered seeing "thousands of army men being launched towards France in sky tugs and gliders".

At the time he was 24-years-old and served with the Second Tactical Air Force 84 Group, but despite flying 23 different aircraft and clocked more than 2,231 hours, he made a surprising admission.

He said: "There's a funny thing because I can't stand heights. I'm terrified on the top of the ladder."

But he found no problem flying and added: "The first flight I took never worried me. As long as the plane's moving, I'm moving."

The service on Sword Beach, Normandy, was held at 07:25, to mark the moment Allied troops came ashore.

I'm covering today's event for BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, and there were hundreds of people heading towards the beach in the early hours in readiness for the service.

I was also struck by just how important the D-Day landings were to people living on that part of the French coast.

Every other house that I drove past had either a Union Jack flying outside the door, the Canadian flag or the Stars and Stripes flag.

Each of the five beaches targeted in Normandy was given a codename - Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

Though German military leaders had been expecting an invasion, they believed the initial attacks were only a diversionary tactic.

A deception plan meant they expected the main invasion further along the coast.

It meant troops managed to establish a foothold on four of the beaches without major casualties.

The exception was Utah, where US forces suffered serious losses.

British forces were involved in the assaults on Gold and Sword beaches and services have been taking place on those this morning.

Mr Booker, from Lichfield, in Staffordshire, says he doesn't talk about the events of D-Day often but when he does he sheds a tear.

“You try to forget it all, you don’t want to know, you don’t want to remember all that but you can’t, it’s in you, you’ve got it there. You can’t do nothing about it. It’ll always be there," he said.

“What a way to go. Go out there, bang, dead.

“They better not be forgotten for what they did, what they went through. You can’t forget them, no way.”