80th Pilgrimage to Normandy 4 – 9th June 2024
This was always going to be a special event, but potentially one that could be problematic in terms of meeting up and getting around. An initial group of 8 booked accommodation in Hotel de Lion sur Mer in February 2023. A gite (for 2 + dog) & Airbnb (for 2) were booked at the beginning of 2024, when booking dates opened. Our routes to Normandy varied (via Portsmouth, Dover and Dieppe) as did the dates we set out (Saturday 1st – Tuesday 4th) and returned! Actually, it’s amazing we were able to co-ordinate anything.
The overall impression is of the perfect weather – sun, slight breeze to refresh and amazing blue skies – and the madness that comes with joining in with such a keynote commemoration. It has been estimated that there are an additional 2.2 million people in Normandy, and you could tell: the keynote areas are jammed with re-enactment groups, WW2 replica and vintage vehicles, military or ex-military people and lots of family members of Normandy veterans, including my generation- the children of WW2 veterans – all proudly wearing our father’s medals. And every street, road and motorway was guarded by national police force or local gendarmes, all holding what looked like machine guns. This week would have been a good time for criminals to commit crimes elsewhere in France.
Getting about as a group in cars was a challenge. It’s easy to get lost amongst all the traffic, virtually impossible to park cars close together – in fact almost impossible to park. Full stop. And getting everyone up and out to arrive at events at the same time needed organisation, although everyone willingly went along with all the plans, and within our group there was a harmonious atmosphere. That too has been a memory to cherish. The good fun, the humour, the shared sense of purpose. Add to that a delightful hotel, very accommodating hosts, a good location and the joy of having hotel windows open all the time to hear birds singing and the local church clock chiming.
We always said that we’d have to be flexible in terms of scheduling and that has been the case. We had been ambitious in our planning and by the time it had taken two hours to get off the boat (for groups on Saturday 1st and Tuesday 4th we realised that getting to Omaha or Arromanches on that first day wasn’t going to happen. We’ve been joking as the week progressed that rather than plan B or C we were now on AA or BB.
Tuesday 4 June: A very calm sea crossing, with lots of celebratory events both in Portsmouth and on the Brittany Ferry Mont St Michel. Royal Navy patrol boats HMS Trumpeter and HMS Dasher followed behind, along with sea cadet training vessel TS Royalist and minehunter HMS Cattistock. Harbour tugs shot jets of water in tribute and bagpipers played on the stern of the ferry as 31 Normandy Veterans departed. There was also the simultaneous sounding of sirens from other craft nearby and a fly-past of a Royal Air Force A400. Around an hour from the coast of France – the captain slowed the ship to allow a wreath laying ceremony.
On board, everyone was entertained by the Jedburgh Pipe Band, who piped the ship out of harbour, Royal British Legion Band, Pendyrus Male Voice Choir and singers.
There was a buzz of excitement – we were on our way. Disembarking took 2 hours, and with three cars we were immediately aware of the volume of traffic, the problem of finding somewhere to park (and locating the Airbnb).
A combination of the late landing of the ship (wreath-laying) and delayed arrival at the hotel, plus advice from Mark & Jane at the Gite, meant we abandoned the planned visits to the American Cemetery & Arromanches. It was tea time and it was obvious that we’d need to book to be able to eat together, even just for 6 people; our Hotel persuaded La Taverna to take us. We were immediately taught a lesson in French service; when the waiter came to take our order and we hadn’t all decided – he left us for an hour before coming back! Point taken – they were busy.
Wednesday 5 June: The plan was to arrive at Colleville Montgomery for the Spirit of Normandy Trust (SONT) service at 10.30 am. Arriving at 10.00 am we witnessed the 150 French marine riflemen brought in by Landing Craft and marching up from the beach to Monty’s statute.
The service was attended by Normandy Veterans, Officers and soldiers of UK 3rd Division; Royal Marines 47 Commando, Merseyside Air Training Corps, Mayor of Colleville Montgomery, Viscount Henry Montgomery (Monty’s grandson), General Lord Dannatt and Major General James Martin. Since Stockport NVA Legacy had confirmed with SONT that we’d be attending (and we are part of their charity) we were disappointed to discover that we were not allocated entry tickets and were required to stand around the perimeter of the square. At this point, Paul Crone from Granada Reports caught up with us. He’d asked us to bring photos of our fathers and interviewed Jo, Ray, John McHugh (his father was fatally wounded on Sword Beach) and myself about why we felt it was important to undertake our pilgrimage to Normandy. Paul was very skilled at his job, able to make us appear natural and articulate as we talked to him on television. Thank you Paul.
By now, Steve should have joined us, but his journey via Dieppe was beginning to unravel. His car broke down 2 hours after landing in Dieppe on 4 June (thank goodness for AA Insurance), was recovered and Skoda said it wouldn’t be until 14 June before they could diagnose the fault. A taxi then took Steve to his initial hotel, and a hire car was arranged on 5 June – which then shortly broke down! Eventually a taxi was organised by the hire car company to bring Steve to Lion sur Mer hotel. He’d missed the Bayeux ceremony and finally arrived – frustrated and exhausted – at 9.45 pm.
In the meantime we divided into two groups: Ray, John & Lynn went to the official service of commemoration at Bayeux; guests included the Princess Royal (John & Lynn were seated 4 rows behind her). The British Army Band Catterick performed through afternoon tea for the veterans and the service. (Ray’s Report)
The rest of us opted to go to the Marine Monument at Hermanville, which was always visited by our Navy veterans. There we held a low key service, followed by the scattering of the ashes of Alan (Navy, 2018) & Alison (daughter, 2022) on Sword beach.
Mundane as it sounds, we decided that an easy option for eating together that evening was Mister Burger café (it wasn’t high cuisine, but the burgers were good) and Ray, John & Lynn re-joined us and we shared our experiences.
Thursday 6 June: This was always going to be a long day. Those of us with invitations to the British Normandy Memorial were required to get up at 5.30 am to travel to the ‘Hub’ at Caen 13 miles away to catch a coach that would take us back to Ver sur Mer, 3½ miles from our hotel along the D514 coast road. There was a great deal of traditional military ‘Hurry up and Wait’ as we stood for over an hour for sniffer dogs to arrive to sniff the wheelchairs (I have to say that one seemed distinctly uninterested in sniffing); were rushed through to the minibus (not allowed the comfort of going to the toilet) and then waited a further 45 minutes for a police motorcycle escort. We were so late arriving that we followed behind King Charles & Queen Camilla’s cavalcade. The crowds who had been cheering and waving flags for them did so for us as well!
(Am I allowed to discuss the portable facilities? They stank, were very wet and required a double crank on a lever before and after use.)
However, the service was very moving, superbly choreographed, with clarity of sound and despite our late arrival we had an excellent view of the whole event on the screens. The personal stories of the veterans were told by young service men and women and Tom Jones singing I Won’t Crumble if You Fall was surprisingly tear-jerking. We were pleased to be part of the event, and the Red Arrows Flypast was an appropriate climax. (Photo taken as they went over Bayeux Cemetery)
The service had finished by 12 noon, but then we had the logistical issue of getting back to our cars parked in Caen and then to Hermanville for 4.00 pm to synchronise with the Stockport War Memorial service at 3.00. It shouldn’t have been a problem, but with no option we were in Wait mode. We arrived breathless, on the last minute, for the service at 4.00 pm at Hermanville War Cemetery, where we synchronised our service with the event planned in Stockport. Those of us who explained why that visit to Normandy was important to our fathers said afterwards how emotional we had felt and our service was followed by prayers at the grave of John McHugh, the father that John never knew, who died on 7 June 6 weeks before he was born.
From Pat at Stockport War Memorial
As part of the Joint Service of Remembrance to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of D Day a small Service conducted by the Bishop of Stockport Sam Corley was held at the Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery. It soon became apparent that we had underestimated just how many people had chosen to honour all those who had taken part in the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6th June 1944. Those attending, including many representatives of the armed forces as well as the general public, soon filled the Memorial area with several people having to stand in the entrance.
An address given by Paul Brearley, the Deputy Lieutenant for Greater Manchester, was both poignant and personal with Councillor Suzanne Wyatt, Mayor of Stockport, graciously adding her sentiments. The service itself was both touching and respectful; the additional recessional cornet playing from Macey Waring; the procession of seven standard bearers together with the videos of the personal accounts from the children of Veterans added to the strength of the Stockport Normandy Veterans Legacy which left many of those in attendance visibly moved. A number of people and children chose to leave poppies on the Book of Remembrance as a mark of respect together with the wreath that had been presented at the start of the service. An invitation to take light refreshments in the West Gallery after the service was accepted by all those in attendance making this special event so memorable.
In Normandy
Our patrons are Yannick and Claudie Langlais, who live at Hermanville. Yannick remembers the invasion as a 9 year old boy living in the countryside and the delight his family felt when they saw Allied soldiers coming not to invade but to liberate them. Claudie, as an 8 year old, lived in Caen and has vivid memories of the bombing by the allies that the city endured as British, French and Canadian troops met fierce opposition from the Germans. Caen was not liberated until 19 July and 30,000 civilians had lost their lives in that battle.
Yannick and Claudie invited us back to their home for refreshments and it was with regret that we tore ourselves away; a meal had been booked for us all at the Hotel. Our hosts, Tatiana and Andre, were excellent and a lengthy meal was enjoyed by us all. It had indeed been a long day.
Friday 7 June. It wasn’t a surprise that we all got up late for the luxury of a leisurely breakfast. Jerusalem War Cemetery was on our ‘must do’ list – it is where our veterans regularly returned. It was a delightful 15 mile cross-country route past hedgerows of wild flowers, with striking red poppies & white ox-eye daisies and we arrived away from the chaos of the keynote events to the peace of this tiny hamlet near the village of Chouain. The area was the scene of bitter fighting when a German armoured column sought to retake Bayeux shortly after its liberation. The cemetery was begun on 10 June 1944, is one of the smallest Commonwealth war cemeteries and sadly contains the grave of the youngest British soldier killed in Normandy – 16 year old Private Jack Banks of the Durham Light Infantry. He ran away from home to enlist at the age of 15 and died on 21 July 1944.
It was now lunchtime and with so many of us finding somewhere to eat was likely to be difficult. Bright idea: let’s go towards the coast, there’s bound to be somewhere. NO! We followed in convoy cross country to Arromanches to discover that even though it wasn’t designated a day of events it was jammed with the road through the town containing military vehicles on one side and tourist coaches on the other. The only way through was to retract wing mirrors and not to lose one’s nerve. Let’s rethink: best option – buy food from the supermarket and eat on the terrace at the hotel.
The event of today is the joint commemoration with the village of St Croix sur Mer where one of the temporary airfields was constructed (B3). Our connection with B3 and Ste Croix is because Jonnie Johnson (Air Vice-Marshall) was Patron of Stockport NVA, and it was he who brought Stockport veterans here from the 1990s to pay their respects. In fact when the visit was made there would be Mass said in the village church by the NVA padre. Jonnie Johnson’s death is recorded in Stockport’s Roll of Honour (Jan 2001) and after his death the tradition to visit has continued by our group ever since. In fact, one of our RAF veterans’ ashes (Stan Weatherall January 2005) were scattered here. This was the first time that our whole group was able to meet together, since Mark & Jane had been unable to get a car pass to travel on 6 June to join us at Hermanville, and for them their visit to the 80 was disappointing because of the restrictions and chaos of travelling and visiting keynote sites. The hour long service (lots of speeches) was followed by an invitation to go to a second site (a maple tree planted by the village cemetery) where Yannick informed us there were even longer speeches.
Although we had been invited to join the village celebration of liberation, we felt it was a good call to opt out – the demands of the week were taking a toll and the comfort of the hotel was beckoning.
Saturday 8 June: Today the group was beginning to disband with Ray, Mark & Jane leaving. The rest of us spent a quiet morning, enjoying a walk along the sea front or photographing the wild flowers before we invited Yannick and Claudie to lunch.
We went back to La Taverna and since our patrons are regular customers (and French) we had a far better experience.
Question: how long does it take to eat a traditional French lunch?
Answer: 3 hours.
Very French and very leisurely; excellent cuisine and good comradeship. It made a fitting wind down and ending to the week.
Cases had to be packed ready for a 6.00 am start on Sunday 9th back to Portsmouth and the long haul back up to Stockport (and beyond).
Everyone was asked to think of 3 words to summarise their 80th Commemoration experience, and the Word Cloud below is a compilation of all those words.