D-Day

80th Anniversary D-Day Commemoration

On 6th June this year communities across the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the UK Overseas Territories will be marking the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings of WWII. D-Day on 6th June 1944 saw the largest Naval, Air and Land operation in history, involving hundreds of thousands of personnel. The allies landed on the shores of the Normandy beaches in Northern France, to at long last free a Nazi occupied Europe. The operation was given the codename of OVERLORD, which delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy. Each beach was given separate code names: UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO and SWORD. The invasion force included over 7,000 ships and landing craft, by nightfall around 156,000 allied troops had landed, despite very challenging weather and fierce German defences.

The allied forces, consisted mainly of British, US and Canadian troops, but also included Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Polish and Rhodesian (now Zimbabwe). Casualties during the landings were high, numbering some 10,300. By 30th June 1944 over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles and 57,000 tons of supplies had landed on the shores.

Do you have a family connection to this momentous day in history?

If so - and you wish to mark your relatives’ involvement and celebrate their achievements - then Gwinear-Gwithian Parish Council would very much like to hear from you.

• The Parish Council is setting aside space on its website to provide an opportunity for residents to remember/mark their relatives’ involvement in the D-Day Landings and the liberation of Europe which followed.
• If you would like your relative to be included, in what the Parish Council hopes will be a roll of recognition and remembrance, then please provide the following information via the form below or simply email your information directly to clerk@ggpc.org.uk
• If you would like more information on this local initiative before committing, then again, please contact the Parish Clerk - Vida Perrin on 01736 850129 (Parish Office) or email: clerk@ggpc.org.uk

(The National Anniversary Celebrations will include the lighting of beacons across the Country at 9.15pm on 6th June. Commemorations will also include the ringing of Church Bells – “World in Ringing Out for Peace” at 6.30pm on 6th June (Central Council of Bell Ringers). Along with lighting a “Lamp Light of Peace” campaign and other proposed activities. For more information on these activities please see the D-Day 80 Beacons website.