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As reported earlier, this is how the Daily Echo reported Operation Overlord.
LA Times' coverage of D-Day. Why don't we do maps like this anymore? http://t.co/kc5ErY0m0H http://t.co/QgfAfEghUm
— @mattdpearce 06 June 2014
Mum Fiona Roy took her four-year-old daughter Elisabeth to the D-Day ceremony at Hamble marina to remember those who died for their country.
Fiona’s grandfather Charles David Letson was an officer in the Royal Dorset Regiment and was part of the second wave which landed on British landing zone, Sword beach.
“The most he ever spoke about it was that he had one leg full of shrapnel. Towards the end though he did talk more about it. My son asked him a few questions for a school history project and he talked for hours.
“I think it’s really important we remember what they did for us.”
At Hamble Marina families laid down crosses to remember the previous generations who fought and died 70 years ago.
Major Duncan Jennings, who served with the Royal Artillery in Kosovo, Bosnia and in Iraq, was joined by his two boys William, five, and Angus, three, to remember them at a D-Day commemoration service.
He said: “It is important to look back and say what we have now are privileges made by the dedication and sacrifice of those who came before us.
An 89-year-old veteran reported missing from a nursing home was found in France marking the anniversary of the D-Day landings.
The pensioner, who left wearing his war medals, has contacted the home and said his friends are going to make sure he gets back safely when the commemorations end.
Sussex Police were called at 7.15pm yesterday by staff at a nursing home in Hove who said an 89-year-old who lived there had gone out at 10.30am and had not been seen since.
He had gone out wearing a grey mack and a jacket underneath with his war medals on, police said.
Officers began searching the area, including checking hospitals in case something had happened to him, and spoke to bus and taxi companies, but none of them knew where he was.
The nursing home received a phone call from a younger veteran from Brighton at 10.30pm who said he had met the pensioner on a coach on the way to France and that they were safe and well in a hotel in Ouistreham.
Union flags planted in the sand by the British Legion, Gold Beach, Asnelles, Normandy, France as part of the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day campaign.
At Hamble marina Second World War veteran Fred Dymond thanked all those people who turned up to remember those who died.
Fred, 96, who served on HMS Cumberland throughout the war: “It has been a marvellous turnout. It always brings back tears. It brings back memories of the day.”
Fred was a stoker on the cruiser ship which was deployed in the Far East while action was going on in Northern France.
He served seven years on board the ship from 1938 to the end of the Second World War.
Children from Hamble Community Sports College read out the Royal British Legion exhortation at a D-Day commemoration service at Hamble marina.
For D-Day and Dunkirk veteran Lionel Tucker every word of the exhortation had a special meaning to him in remembering those who fought and died for this country.
The 97-year-old former mechanical engineer said: "I think that all our minds should be on those that haven't made it back."
Other veterans of D-Day were at Hamble marina to remember their comrades who died 70 years ago today.
Lionel Tucker was involved in the operations in the days after the landing on the Normandy coast line on June 6.
The 97-year-old, who was a mechanical engineer, said: "What we did 70 years ago I can't easily bring to describe in words.
"Today has been heart-warming. You think that you are the only one involved until you get something today. I makes you realise how many people are involved."
Stan Rickeard was one of the veterans of the Battle of Normandy who remembered his brothers in arms who never made it home.
Speaking about the ceremony, the 89-year-old said: "I think it a wonderful display of thought for all those who lost their lives. They are the real heroes, those who gave their lives for our freedom.
"I think we must never forget that."
At a D-Day commemoration service in Hamble, Reverend Dr Peter Crick spoke about the role the village played in what he described as "one of the most important days in world history".
He said: "Many acts of hospitality went on within places along the Hampshire coast. People from this village remembered soldiers who went off and fought and died in that battle.
"The last pleasant thing they remember is seeing the residents waving at them, or sharing a drink with them or giving them a kiss before they went off to battle."
Normandy veterans take part in a service of remembrance at Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, Bayeux, Normandy, France.
Barack Obama and Francois Hollande look out over Omaha Beach during the D-Day Ceremony by @saulloeb #AFP http://t.co/jw4DtUxips
— @AFPphoto 06 June 2014
Here is an archive report from the Normandy beachhead on D-Day, filed by AP reporter Roger Greene.
Greene had accompanied British forces across the Channel.
His copy, marked ''Delayed'', was datelined: ''On a Beachhead in France, June 6.''
:: ON A BEACHHEAD IN FRANCE - Hitler's Atlantic wall cracked in the first hour under tempestuous allied assault.
As I write, deeply dug into a beachhead of north-western France, German prisoners, mostly wounded, are streaming back. But the Boche still is putting up a terrific fight.
Shells are exploding all over the beach and out at sea as wave after wave of allied ships, as far as I can see, move into shore.
My escorting officer, Sir Charles Birkin, was slightly wounded three times in the first 15 minutes ashore and three men were killed within five feet of me.
Our heavy stuff is now rolling ashore and we not only have a solid grip on the beachhead but are thrusting deep inland.
The beach is jammed with troops and bulldozers for many miles, and now it has been quiet for 15 minutes, which apparently means the German big guns are knocked out.
Our casualties on this sector have been comparatively light.
I landed at 8.45am, wading ashore waist deep in water under fire to find quite a few wounded and some killed on the beach - and Nazi prisoners, very stiff and sour-looking already coming back.
Before embarking we were told there would be 10,000 allied planes attacking today and there is every sign our air mastery is complete. So far not a single German plane has been seen.
The night-long channel crossing also was quiet until the last mile.
German prisoners said Hitler visited this beach two days ago and they admitted they were taken by surprise.
Only a few hundred Nazis manned the beach defences on this sector. They laid down a terrific machine-gun fire, but were quickly overwhelmed.
As far as I have seen there is no sign of Hitler's vaunted Atlantic wall with its massive concrete fortifications. German artillery deeper inland is very formidable, but the beach defences are piddling, rifle-slits and strands of barbed wire.
Unveiling of a memorial by the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust at Calshot Spit the former site of RAF Calshot .
(l-r) Pip Jones RAF Association , Kenneth Bannerman (director general Airpields of Britain Conservation Trust) , Cllr Keith Chapman and Dave Gammon , Royal British Legion Fawley.
In Hamble, several hundred people turnedout for the commemorations.
Thre were two D-Day veterans at the service - Stan Rickeard, 89 and Lionel Tucker, 97.
"It was a solemn moment when the last post was sounded as the crowd stood to remember those who fought and died on the beaches of Normandy", says our reporter Ed Stilliard.
A D-Day veteran was presented with a special award by David Cameron for his work organising pilgrimages to the landing sites for his comrades.
Grandfather-of-two George Batts, 88, the national secretary of the Normandy Veterans' Association (NVA), was announced as the latest recipient of a Points of Light award for his voluntary work.
As well as the award, Mr Batts was given the honour of being the British veterans' representative at the official state lunch held as part of the 70th anniversary commemorations.
Mr Batts was just 18 years old when he waded ashore on Gold Beach in Normandy with the Royal Engineers on June 6, 1944.
Today he is among the dwindling band of brothers who each year make the pilgrimage to France to honour the 156,000 Allied troops who stormed the beaches.
For Mr Batts the 70th anniversary commemorations hold a special poignancy because the NVA will be disbanded in November this year.
The passing of time has seen its member numbers fall from some 15,000 to around 600. And where there used to be 105 NVA branches, now just 44 remain.
The Allied assault on June 6, 1944 was the largest amphibious operation in history and marked the start of an 80-day campaign to liberate Normandy.
Three million troops were involved and 250,000 lost their lives, but the end of the war was brought closer as the Nazi hold over western Europe began to crumble.
In a foreword to the official D-Day commemorative brochure, the Queen said that the campaign was launched to secure ''freedom in Europe''.
She added: ''This immense and heroic endeavour brought the end of the Second World War within reach.''
US president Barack Obama paid tribute to his country's sacrifices at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, where nearly 10,000 servicemen are buried.
Mr Obama said the American commitment to liberty, which is ''written in blood'' on the beaches of Normandy, endures with a new generation.
And he told D-Day veterans gathered above Omaha beach that their legacy is in good hands.
The Queen laid a wreath in Normandy for those who made the ultimate sacrifice for ''freedom in Europe'' at a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
The Royal Family and Prime Minister David Cameron were joined by around 400 Commonwealth veterans for a Royal British Legion service in Bayeux to honour the fallen.
During a solemn open air ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery, the Last Post was followed by an emotional minute's silence under sunshine and clear blue skies.
Moments after the Queen arrived, a fly-past of historic aircraft - two Spitfires, a Dakota and a Lancaster bomber - roared overhead as they flew in formation.
Bayeux, a quiet French town close to the coast, was the first to be freed from Nazi control during the campaign.
The town's military graveyard was a fitting place to stage the open-air service as it is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery of the Second World War in France, with more than 4,000 burials.
In bright summer sunshine the service of hymns and prayers was staged with military clergy conducting proceedings.
Lucky shot: #DDay70 http://t.co/FXgkV2pcP7
— @thehistoryguy 06 June 2014
Normandy veterans arrive Bayeux Cathedral to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings during World War II.
At Sword, Brigadier David Baines, the national president of the Normandy Veterans' Association, read the lesson - Ecclesiasticus Chapter 44 1 - 14.
It included the lines: ''Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth evermore. The people will tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will shew forth their praise.''
The choir of St John's College Cambridge, directed by Andrew Nethsingha, sung Psalm 121, followed by an address by the Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, the national chaplain of the RBL.
He told the congregation: ''We come to remember those who from the air, in the water and on the beaches made the supreme sacrifice.''
This is the front page of the Daily Echo D-Day on June 6, 1944.
David Cameron said he felt a mixture of ''awe and gratitude'' as he met veterans of the D-Day landings at the 70th anniversary commemorations.
The Prime Minister said it was ''incredibly moving'' to be at the events in Normandy and it was ''humbling'' for people of his generation who had not had to do anything like the heroic actions of June 6 1944.
It was at Sword Beach that thousands of troops came ashore from the Channel to help turn the tide of war into an eventual victory against the tyranny of Nazi Germany.
For many veterans, now in their late 80s and 90s, who have made the pilgrimage to honour the 156,000 Allied troops, this year's events will possibly be their last at the scene of their exploits.
The ceremony is marks high point of the anniversary events, which has seen thousands flock to beaches, cemeteries and villages linked to the momentous landings.
The day's commemorations began at midnight with a vigil at the Pegasus Bridge, marking the first assault of the D-Day invasion when Allied soldiers landed in the dead of night exactly 70 years ago.
At 12.16am a team of six Horsa gliders carrying 181 men from the Glider Pilot Regiment and the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, landed silently to capture the strategically-vital bridge and another nearby, paving the way for soldiers landing on the Normandy beaches to move inland and reinforce their airborne colleagues.
World leaders are gathering in Normandy today for an emotional ceremony expected to be the pinnacle of events marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
Up to 19 heads of state, including the Queen and US president Barack Obama, are on Sword Beach near Ouistreham, one of the five battle zones on Normandy's coastline on June 6, 1944.
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