Britain was the only allied nation not to be honoured in Normandy, now veterans ...

Britain was the only allied nation not to be honoured in Normandy, now veterans ...
Britain was the only allied nation not to be honoured in Normandy, now veterans ...

For decades, the UK was the only allied nation without a national memorial in Normandy.

Thanks to a dogged campaign by surviving veterans – supported by the Daily Mail and its generous readers – that was eventually put right.

Then the coronavirus pandemic struck. So when the British Normandy Memorial was officially opened on June 6 this year – 77 years to the day after D-Day – our old soldiers and sailors could not be there in person to see it because of travel restrictions.

But yesterday, finally, the first organised visit by veterans to the magnificent memorial to the 22,442 British troops who fell in the Battle of Normandy took place.

On a poignant day at the 50-acre site in Ver-sur-Mer overlooking Gold Beach, the eight who made the journey sought out the names of comrades they knew among the 160 pillars on which the names of the dead are cut in chronological order.

Yesterday, finally, the first organised visit by veterans to the magnificent memorial to the 22,442 British troops who fell in the Battle of Normandy took place and the eight veterans who made the journey sought out the names of comrades they knew

Yesterday, finally, the first organised visit by veterans to the magnificent memorial to the 22,442 British troops who fell in the Battle of Normandy took place and the eight veterans who made the journey sought out the names of comrades they knew

Among the veterans was 96-year-old Harry Billinge, from St Austell, Cornwall, who single-handedly raised more than £40,000 for the memorial, partly with his collection tin in Par market, and inspired many others to donate tens of thousands more.

As he saw the completed monument for the first time, he said: ‘Words cannot explain it. I’ve never been overwhelmed like I am today. I thank God I’m able to be here to remember such great and wonderful men – may God bless them all.’

Harry was an 18-year-old sapper with the Royal Engineers when he landed on Gold Beach at 6.30am on June 6, 1944, as part of the first wave of troops.

Yesterday he told how he had found on the monument the name of Joseph Neades, 22, a Lance Corporal in the Royal Engineers, who had ‘died in my arms in Caen’ during the Battle of Normandy.

‘He died, with me, and I think I died a bit that day,’ said Harry, who recalled saying a prayer for Joseph as he held him in his final moments.

‘My greatest wish has been to see this memorial built in my lifetime.’

Never forgotten: Harry Billinge, 96, from St Austell, Cornwall, yesterday, finds the name of his comrade Lance Corporal Joseph Neades who died in his arms in the battle of Normandy

Never forgotten: Harry Billinge, 96, from St Austell, Cornwall, yesterday, finds the name of his comrade Lance Corporal Joseph Neades who died in his arms in the battle of Normandy

Pictured: Joseph Neades, 22, a Lance Corporal in the Royal Engineers, with his wife and son, Alan, in 1944, a few months before D-day

Pictured: Joseph Neades, 22, a Lance Corporal in the Royal Engineers, with his wife and son, Alan, in 1944, a few months before D-day

Joe Cattini, 98, drove up Gold Beach on D-Day in a three-ton ammunition truck loaded with 25lb shells and dozens of cans of petrol.

The great-grandfather, from Southampton, spent five days in hospital with Covid in August. After learning why he was feeling ill, such is his indomitable spirit that he told his daughter Fran Bradshaw: ‘Thank goodness I’m not getting old – it’s only Covid.’

Yesterday he said: ‘I’m very excited to see the memorial. I felt very sorry for the young infantry who landed on the beaches on D-Day.

‘I think of the ones that didn’t come back – they are the heroes, the ones that gave their lives. I don’t class myself as a hero – I was lucky, I had a good guardian angel who

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