gb news. >> away . >> at 630 in the morning. on the 6th of june, 1944, the first boats arrived on utah and omaha beaches on the normandy coast. >> the reclamation of free territory in western europe had begun. >> over the next 24 hours, thousands of men, many just teenagers, laid down their lives in the largest amphibious landing in military history

against embedded defences and in places, fierce fighting and heavy gunfire. >> the british, canadian and american forces established beachhead after beachhead in what turned out to be one of the most successful military operations of the second world war. >> today, we remember those who laid down their lives to end nazi tyranny, protect our freedoms and guarantee the liberties of future generations . liberties of future generations. >> well, we will be live in normandy and around the country throughout the show today. and we want to hear from you. what are your connections to this historic event? >> so many people will have connections. so many people will have family members, friends,

even other connections to those who have played whatever role in what was a historic day, whether they were people who stormed the beaches themselves or provided auxiliary support. but there were so many who went into making a successful operation. >> yes, please do get in touch with your stories, your connections. gbnews.com forward slash your essay. we'll be reading some of them out a little bit later in the show. but before that, let's get your headunes but before that, let's get your headlines with sophia. >> emily. thank you. good afternoon. it's 12:02. >> emily. thank you. good afternoon. it's12:02. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . the king has spoken of newsroom. the king has spoken of his profound sense of gratitude for those who fought in the d—day invasion. as he addressed veterans during the 80th anniversary commemorations in normandy , veterans could be seen normandy, veterans could be seen wiping their eyes with tissues as charles made his address at the national commemorative event

in france, they were joined by prime minister rishi sunak , prime minister rishi sunak, labour leader sir keir starmer and french president emmanuel macron. >> it is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all those who served at that critical time . we served at that critical time. we recall the lesson that comes to us again and again across the decade , as free nations must decade, as free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny i >> meanwhile, at the canadian commemorative ceremony on juno beach in normandy, prince william thanked those who served for our freedom. >> i'm honoured to join you to commemorate the bravery and sacrifice of the canadian troops who gave so much 80 years ago, on june the 6th, 1944, as part

of the 150,000 allied troops that landed or parachuted into normandy, 14,000 were from canada, far from home, they stormed these very sand dunes behind me, shoulder to shoulder with thousands of british troops in the uk. >> d—day commemorations are also underway across the country. in lisburn in northern ireland, the town crier delivered a d—day proclamation . scunthorpe has proclamation. scunthorpe has also marked the event and a beacon lighting ceremony will take place in kent. meanwhile, the duke and duchess of edinburgh will join veterans at a royal british legion remembrance service in staffordshire and the duke and duchess of gloucester will meet veterans at a show at the royal albert hall in london. the prime minister has pledged to boost veterans benefits in an election offering. rishi sunak says he wants to make the uk the best place in the world to have

served in the armed forces. place in the world to have served in the armed forces . the served in the armed forces. the policy pledge on the 80th anniversary of d—day includes reducing the price of the veterans railcard from £30 per year to £21 and extending the existing national insurance relief for employers who hire ex—military members . labour ex—military members. labour claims the tory record on veterans is shameful, and their election plans mean no change. but secretary of state for work and pensions mel stride says it's an important step forward . it's an important step forward. >> we are to be re—elected and there will be looking at further plans and strategic plans that there will be a duty on ministers to come forward with. we're going to be decreasing the cost of the rail car to veterans from 30 to £21. we're going to be extending the national insurance reductions that are available to employers that recruit veterans, for example, where we know we have higher employment rates amongst veterans than we do across the population more generally. so we stand full square with them . and

stand full square with them. and i think, you know, this is an important step forward . important step forward. >> but shadow defence secretary john healey says labour will go further for veterans. >> unfortunately, the government's created over 14 years of postcode lottery on help for veterans. they've halved the support, on employment and they've allowed veterans homelessness to rise over the last year, not end it. and there's much more that can be done and needs to be done, we would start by putting fully into law the armed forces covenant. now, that would reinforce and strengthen the rights of veterans to services and also of service personnel and also of service personnel and their families. we'd also legislate in the first year of a labour government for a new independent armed forces commissioner , and a rescue commissioner, and a rescue operation is underway in the engush operation is underway in the english channel, with reports of up to 80 migrants in the water. >> british and french vessels have raced to the scene about halfway across the channel between calais and dover. gb

news has been told that as many as 250 migrants are currently in boats on the french side of the channel this morning, and they're attempting to cross to they're attempting to cross to the uk . and for the latest the uk. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. corach rambler. that's now it's back to tom and . emily. back to tom and. emily. >> well, 1207 is the time . it is >> well, 1207 is the time. it is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all who served at that critical time . the words of the critical time. the words of the king as he marks the 80th anniversary of d—day. >> king charles is amongst 20 heads of state in normandy today, with events marking the day across france and indeed here in the uk as well. yes d—day marked the beginning of the end of world war ii, laying the end of world war ii, laying the foundations for the allied defeat of nazi germany and leading to the liberation of

western europe . well, our western europe. well, our reporter sophie reaper is at gold beach in normandy, one of those beaches where the british forces landed. sophie, what's the atmosphere there today ? the atmosphere there today? >> the atmosphere is absolutely incredible. tom. we've been here since the sun rose this morning because of course, we saw the piper land on gold beach at 725, our time. 625 uk time. in order to mark the exact moment that our british troops would have landed 80 years ago. now you can see the crowds of people behind me. we've had thousands of people here in gold beach and arromanches today. people who've come out travelled from all over the world in order to show their respects and to commemorate an incredible atmosphere, as it has been all week. while we've been here, not just in our own country, but across the normandy coastline at the various different beaches. as you say, there were five different beaches, people travelling, as i

say , from all over, and just two say, from all over, and just two of those people are about to join me right now, irene and nigel, who have travelled from the uk. very good afternoon to you both. thank you forjoining you both. thank you for joining us. afternoon. very good afternoon, nigel. i'll come to yourself first. i know that you are ex—army and that you also had a family member land on here on gold beach on d—day, didn't you? do you want to tell me a bit about their story? >> well, all i remember is what my cousin told me, that he landed on d—day, on the beach, on d—day, and on the 7th of june, the day after he was killed at action. >> and that's as far as i know, but we've got flowers to put on the grave on friday, when we were allowed into the cemetery. >> you mentioned to me earlier that it's var cemetery, isn't it, that he is in. how do you think you'll feel when you when you get to lay the flowers on the grave of one of your family members here at such a poignant anniversary ? anniversary? >> yeah, we'll always feel sad and remember, the sacrifice that these people made, you know ,

these people made, you know, just for our freedom. really, it's very nostalgic, very emotional. >> and it's a good thing to do, i think. yeah. every year. >> well, you say every year, i mean, i'll come to yourself now , mean, i'll come to yourself now, i know that you've been coming every year for the last few years. how important is it to you to be able to come to this part of france and pay tribute every year? >> very important, because this is something that should be remembered every year and passed to on the younger generations for freedom and for the future as well. i think. i think it's important that we mentioned the younger generations there of course, we've heard over recent weeks that actually a lot of young people these days don't actually know what d—day is. >> now, we have seen quite a few children here. school trips. do you think it's how important do you think it's how important do you think it's how important do you think the education is around d—day and our and our armed forces? >> extremely important , i think >> extremely important, i think for future generations should definitely be taught at school.

yes nigel. >> i'll come to yourself. now, what are you going to say? >> i like i say, i will say, i think it should be taught in schools and it should be, it should be, should be drummed into them. >> i think. >> i think. >> really? yes. so everybody remembers in the future. i mean, we're not all going to be here in a few years time, but the next generation coming up, you know, they should be drummed into them and how important it is, you know. yeah, of course it's unlikely that we'll get another big anniversary with any of our veterans who fought on d—day . d—day. >> how important is it that we make them feel special while we still can? >> well, i think it's a very special that everybody remembers . i mean, on the 100th anniversary, i mean, i won't be here, but i'd like to think that people will still be be be remembering, you know, so, it's very important, i think. >> well, that's a big part. of course, i know you're also a member of the royal british legion. we can see the poppy on on your fleece there. that the

poppy is, on your fleece there. that the poppy is, of course, a symbol. remembrance. i see also that you're wearing one. irene. what does the symbol of the poppy mean to you? >> rebecca joynes ? >> rebecca joynes? >> rebecca joynes? >> remembrance. definitely remembrance. it's an absolute token of remembrance. it should be worn proudly. yeah absolutely. >> thank you both so much for joining me. this afternoon. it was brilliant to hear from you both. and there we go. and that's just two people. thank you very much, nigel. i will have a good afternoon. just two of the people who are here, not just in our rhiannon jones , not just in our rhiannon jones, not just in our rhiannon jones, not just in our rhiannon jones, not just in this part of france, but all over the world, who today will take a moment to reflect and show their respect to the fallen, the fallen people who gave their lives on d—day eight years ago today. >> sophie reaper , thank you so >> sophie reaper, thank you so much for bringing us that and bringing us those stories as well. so often we think about what happened on d—day, those who fell on the beaches. but as nigel was talking about his cousin, he made it through on the beaches. it was the next day

that he fell because the war didn't end on d—day. it continued to push on and there was danger at every turn. >> and there . absolutely right. >> and there. absolutely right. it's an imperative, really , to it's an imperative, really, to continue to teach children in school down from parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great grandparents, continue to teach them the significance of what happened on that day . happened on that day. >> well, as we said, d—day events are taking place across the uk today and we cross now to gb news. reporters will hollis, who's in nottinghamshire, dougie beattie in lisburn in northern ireland, and jack carson, who's at the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire. jack, let's go to you first. what's going on today ? what's going on today? >> yeah. good afternoon to you both. well, here at the national memorial arboretum, this is where the official royal british legion commemorative event here is here in the uk. the service is here in the uk. the service is set to get underway in just a couple of hours time at around 2:00. lots of invited guests,

veterans expected to attend around 26 d—day veterans are going to be here to be part of the service today, ranging from the service today, ranging from the ages of 96. all the way up to 104. in fact, the youngest of those , who's 96 actually changed those, who's 96 actually changed his age on his ration book. in order for him to be able to sign up to go and fight in world war ii. i mean, if there's a bigger example, of course, of the sacrifice that these people were willing to make 80 years ago today, the service , the today, the service, the dedication that these people felt towards king and towards country . and it really is that country. and it really is that one of those veterans that's here today is tom hill. he's 98. he's from birmingham . he's he's from birmingham. he's a royal marines veteran. he was part of the second wave that went over on d—day. he landed on sword, a beach. he crewed that landing craft, took care of navigation. i spoke to him a little bit earlier on remembering mowed down because

there must have been a pillbox that got stationed onto them and i shouted, what's it like? >> the other side? and they said, it's all right. the other side . i said, well, we're not side. i said, well, we're not getting rid of my lot. i'll come round and pick you up. might get them in 30 60s well, i thought i said because i can carry 36 in my craft and i'll take it in and you won't get your feet wet because we could hit the beach. they were some way off the beach i >>i >> i mean, obviously, you know, listening to their just to some of the experience he had, i mean, arriving in the second wave, he very much experienced and saw for himself the horrors , and saw for himself the horrors, of course, that that first wave experienced as they went on to those heavily guarded, heavily armoured and manned hilltops and cliff tops that nazi germany had ensured to try and, of course,

defend this allied attack. and we'll hear a little bit more from from tom a little bit later on. >> thank you. thank you so much, jack. a wonderful interview there. i mean, just thinking about what we were doing at age 16. it'sjust a about what we were doing at age 16. it's just a different, different world. will, you're in nottinghamshire , tell us where nottinghamshire, tell us where you are . you are. >> yes. well, while the national focus is quite rightly on places like normandy , the place where like normandy, the place where so many young people gave their lives , or on the national lives, or on the national memorial, the places where we gather together to remember those sacrifices. >> there are events happening in towns and villages across the country , like here in worksop, country, like here in worksop, nottinghamshire, and it is because in places like this that's where so many of those young men that gave their lives on the beaches of normandy, it was here that they could not return to. and i've been speaking to the lord lieutenant of nottinghamshire , veronica of nottinghamshire, veronica pickering, who is the king's representative in the county,

about why it is so important to remember the fact that these people never came home. >> this is where most of those young men and women came from. the small towns and villages across the uk represented all of us. it wasn't one army from a small place or one large town and one large city. these small towns, and in fact, most of the working people in these small towns, are the ones who went over to normandy , are the ones over to normandy, are the ones who fought in the first and second world wars. this is where our history sits. this is where our history sits. this is where our history sits. this is where our history belongs, and it should be shared . should be shared. >> and while there were no veterans who served on d—day or in the second world war, here at this event, partly because so many of them are at the normandy events or at the national arboretum, but mainly because so many of them now have passed on and there are only a few left in pockets throughout the united

kingdom, there was a large number of people gathering from the royal british legion and from the local community, vie to remember what happened 80 years ago . ago. >> well, thank you so much for bringing us that. let's turn to northern ireland now. dougie beattie, you're in lisburn. what's happening? where you are? yeah well, welcome to lisburn and yes, lisburn and castlereagh city council are very been very much been about educating children. >> and i must say i've been educated myself . i mean this is educated myself. i mean this is a 303 bullet and it belongs to this particular weapon that is sitting behind us. now. this is a 1943 vickers machine gun , this a 1943 vickers machine gun, this the weight on this is unbelievable. not only do you have to carry the gun, you have to carry the tripod that goes with it. the rounds of bullets and ammunition and the water. because this jacket , this because this jacket, this machine fired about 600 rounds per minute, and it had to be

cooled. the muzzle of it had to be cooled at all times. so therefore this jacket was connected to by water. so you could just imagine a young man, you could see these schoolchildren sitting dressed in the army gear and all behind us. and i mean, they are really learning a lesson. if you could just feel this gun, if you could imagine trying to get off that landing craft with this weapon, with you and your machine gun nest of three that would be there and trying to hit those beaches and not be drowned because most of these, uniforms that are here are actually woollen as well. so the children are learning so much here today. exactly what went on in d—day and just how much of a threat, a threat to life, even getting off those landing craft with such weapons as this would have been nearly impossible . and i'll be nearly impossible. and i'll be absolutely certain that you were going to try and get that machine gun onto the beaches. but you were also going to

germans were going to try and hit you with weapons like this. it must have been frightening. and the children here today are learning every single thing about this day, including the horrors of what these young men must have faced. >> thank you so much for bringing us that. it's so important we talk so much about passing things on to the next generation, seeing it happen in practice. what a privilege . practice. what a privilege. well, thank you so much to all of you. we're going to cross now to normandy because both the president of the united states and the president of france, joe biden and emmanuel macron , are biden and emmanuel macron, are at a service. let's, have a look here. there they are standing together. of course, it wasn't just british, canadian and american forces who were involved in what went on. also tied up in making sure that d—day was a success with a marquee . the french resistance, marquee. the french resistance, who did so much to disrupt the communication and indeed transport networks within france, preventing the nazi reinforcement troops arriving in normandy, preventing what could

have been a much larger challenge for those arriving on the beaches, particularly the second ss panzer division, which was in the south of france. the das reich division of nazi troops and all of their panzer tanks. troops and all of their panzer tanks . those were prevented from tanks. those were prevented from getting up to normandy for the best part of a week by the french resistance , working in french resistance, working in concert with the british sas . so concert with the british sas. so hugely important to not forget the free french role in what had took place as well. not just the british, not just the canadians, not just the americans, but the french resistance, the marquis as well. >> we can hear there the national anthem , the us national national anthem, the us national anthem, playing out a very moving moment, i'm sure, for president joe biden and his wife there, a wonderful rendition there, a wonderful rendition there by that armed forces band . there by that armed forces band. it looks like a veteran there,

standing watching a huge crowd of spectators there on this beautiful sunny day in normandy. what a moment. >> and we've been hearing all week how people have been coming from all around the world to this part of france to remember this part of france to remember this special anniversary, not just an anniversary that is important for this corner of the world, but really for the whole world, but really for the whole world order our world would look so different had what we remember today gone differently. >> yes, and i hope many millions of, children, young adults , of, children, young adults, adults will be watching this. let's just pause to hear. >> delivered by chaplain karen meeker, chandi vie de bupa jack carson pa l'aumonier karen meeker . meeker. >> now, of course, we have heard our heads. >> let's listen in reverence and

solemn remembrance. >> let us pray . god, when you >> let us pray. god, when you needed someone to defend freedom, you made a soldier. when you needed someone to fight tyranny , you created a marine. tyranny, you created a marine. when you needed someone to protect the skies. you made an airman when you needed someone to guard the seas. airman when you needed someone to guard the seas . you made the to guard the seas. you made the sailor and to patrol the shores , sailor and to patrol the shores, the coast guard when you needed to send someone brave and true. it has always been and always will be. the men and women of the armed forces . when the world the armed forces. when the world needed heroes, you called the greatest generation to courage and their answer still echoes in the soul of the nation. shine your eternal light upon those whose gravestones encircle us as

silent sentinels, reminding us of the price of liberty, comfort with your abiding presence. those who mourn empty tables and empty chairs of those who gave their best hopes for our brighter tomorrows. be our witness. oh god , as we stand on witness. oh god, as we stand on this hallowed ground , this hallowed ground, consecrated in blood, that we will be devoted to the preservation of peace with the same determination as these here who fought for score years ago . who fought for score years ago. as storm clouds gather on the honzon as storm clouds gather on the horizon once again. rise up! oh, god.the horizon once again. rise up! oh, god. the next greatest generation to meet every challenge with an unbreakable resolve to do what is right and goodin resolve to do what is right and good in your sight . not counting good in your sight. not counting the cost, but weighing the unfinished work of freedom. a

vision where all people can pursue the life to which you have created them . may it be so. have created them. may it be so. i pray in your holy name . amen i pray in your holy name. amen and amen . and amen. >> distinguished guests , please >> distinguished guests, please take your seats, chairs vie place . place. >> please welcome the secretary of the american battle monuments commission, charles kay dead.you , la secretaire de la commission americain des monuments de guerre charles kay de jul . guerre charles kay de jul. >> thank you, president and first lady biden, president and madame macron, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the american battle monuments commission. normandy american

cemetery. bonjour, tous . abbey cemetery. bonjour, tous. abbey avenue, d—day is the hinge of history. >> it is here we reflect the very best of america's values . very best of america's values. >> when america sends its young , >> when america sends its young, its brave, its finest. we do not send them to fight for a king or a crown. we do not fight for a sect or a denomination. we do not fight for a motherland or a fatherland . no. and we never, fatherland. no. and we never, ever fight for conquest or plunder or enslave of another people. when america is at its best, america sends its young, its brave, its finest to fight for simple, humble values as the values of freedom , liberty and

values of freedom, liberty and democracy . and when the job is democracy. and when the job is done , when the mission is done, when the mission is accomplished, when the tyrant is taken down and democracy is stood up, america does something unique in the history of mankind. we go home. all that america asks for in return for the sacrifice of our young, our brave and our finest are a few small plots of land to bury our dead. all of you are seated here in one of those small plots of land. that is why this date, june 6th, this place normandy and this ceremony here is so important. it is a reminder to all of us of the true cost of war and the real price of

freedom. it is a price that we paid on d—day, 80 years ago. it is a price that we remind all authoritarian dictators today that, if necessary, we will pay that, if necessary, we will pay that price again to ensure the success of freedom . and that is success of freedom. and that is ultimately why france knows the united states knows, and we know the franche—comte and leicester's uniqueness and news connaissance that the world's most powerful weapon system is not a t—72 manned by mercenaries. it is not a fujian aircraft carrier patrolling artificial islands. it is not a suicide terrorist killing and

slaughtering innocents. no the world's most powerful weapon system was is and shall forever be a free people willing to fight for freedom . ladies and fight for freedom. ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming here. thank you for remembering here. thank you for remembering here. thank you for remembering here. thank you for renewing your faith in freedom. bucha bucha de merci beaucoup. may god bless each and every one of you. france and the united states of america . distinguished guests. america. distinguished guests. the president of the french republic, emmanuel macron . republic, emmanuel macron. >> president de la republique francaise , emmanuel macron .

francaise, emmanuel macron. monsieur le president des etats—unis chair joe monsieur le president des etats—unis chairjoe biden. etats—unis chair joe biden. >> madame la premiere dame doctorjill biden . doctor jill biden. >> mesdames et messieurs, on vous de qualite , messieurs, les vous de qualite, messieurs, les combatants du debarquement veterans . mesdames et messieurs . veterans. mesdames et messieurs. mbappe, tom blanche . as the mbappe, tom blanche. as the president of the french republic, delivers his remarks. >> it's a moment to remember not just those who fought and died, but those who went on and continued to push on for the liberty of western europe. a very poignant ceremony here, a franco—american ceremony. and we're expecting president biden to speak next. in turn, we'll return, of course, to biden's speech when he starts speaking.

but with us in the studio is cameron walker, our royal correspondent, because whilst this ceremony we're watching today is a distinctly not royal one involving two republic presidents , there are, royal presidents, there are, royal events happening throughout the day as well. >> yeah, there certainly has been. and of course, the royal family has an incredibly important relationship with the armed forces. this morning, the king and queen were at the royal british legion's commemorative events at the british normandy memorial . king, of course, memorial. king, of course, patron of the royal british legion and normandy memorial trust. and very similar to yesterday, we've seen a number of the front pages that the queen was actually in tears at the event in portsmouth that i was at yesterday, hearing the first hand testimony from these brave veterans, the same thing happened again. she was visibly moved by the testimony of the veterans, but also from his majesty the king, who delivered a very poignant speech. but part of his speech, actually, i found quite interesting. and that's because he linked it to the present day as well as paying tribute to the veterans. so i

believe we do have a little bit of what the king said, but he spoke about why it's important to remember and why they fought on the beaches. we don't have it, apparently. okay. no worries. so we do have so the king basically linked it to the reason why these men in the 90s and hundreds now. but there are 1819 at the time, stormed beaches of normandy, was to fight for our freedom in the face of tyranny. and he very subtly linked it to perhaps wars happening in the modern day. and why that's so important to remember the sacrifices. absolutely. >> and one of the most moving things about what we're seeing in all of these different ceremonies is those who are currently serving in the armed forces , carrying on that torch, forces, carrying on that torch, carrying on that memory , showing carrying on that memory, showing us how relevant the sacrifice is that were made then are to us today. >> yeah, absolutely . and prince >> yeah, absolutely. and prince william in particular had quite an important role today because as future king, not only of the united kingdom but of canada, he attended the canadian commemorations alongside prime minister justin trudeau of

canada. but as well as speaking to veterans there, there were a number of very young cadets who are clearly the next generation of armed forces in canada and he spoke about the important relationship between both the united kingdom and canada. and clearly, he's going to be the one who's perhaps going to have to try and help shore up that kind of relationship. so it was very interesting to see that. >> just to note, if you're joining us at home on the radio or television, we are just what you're looking at is president macron delivering a speech there? we are waiting for president joe biden, who will follow, of course, those who are there will have headphones to be able to translate if they don't speak french themselves. but alas, we do not. so we will be talking over these pictures until president biden takes to the lectern there. but yes, lights go on. >> the international nature of all of this. of course, the combined military command of 1944, but also the world order

that was built after the war, which sometimes feels like something that is threatened today, sometimes feels like the stability of all of the institutions that were built up , institutions that were built up, the sort of western values that were installed across the world of democracy, of liberty, of free markets. it feels like there is a threat to this today, perhaps in a way that we haven't seen since the fall of the soviet union. once again, a reminder of why these countries, these ceremonies, these moments of coming together are important in the in the years coming forward. >> very important. and i think it's a fair question to ask whether our armed forces are in a fit state to deal with the omni challenges we face across across the world, globally , or across the world, globally, or whether we could sustain anything like this type of military operation. we see defence playing out in this election campaign and military

chiefs and former armed forces ministers talking about our capabilities. and that's something that all these countries present today and representation will be thinking about. >> of course, it's easy to forget there are currently conflicts going for on the first time in many, many years, a conflict in europe itself. we've seen how the british army , other seen how the british army, other armed forces have been involved in training ukrainian troops. it's something that we're tangentially, deeply involved with, but also, of course, conflict in the middle east, too. i thought it was particularly poignant that the aircraft, the a400m aircraft of the royal air force that delivered paratroopers to the beaches yesterday , they were the beaches yesterday, they were the same aircraft that were performing in aid drops over gaza just earlier in the week. it reminds us of the live nature of so many of these different

conflicts . conflicts. >> absolutely. and to go back to the royal family, i mean, the king had some very moving things to say, didn't he? he he paid tribute to those who did not flinch when the moment came on d—day. and it is that reminder of just the bravery that we cannot fathom . there we go. some cannot fathom. there we go. some applause for a president macron as he finishes his his speech. there he continues, we have the i believe we can have a little look at what? at the king. >> king charles, it is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all those who served at that critical time . critical time. >> we recall the lesson that comes to us again and again across the decades , as free across the decades, as free nafions across the decades, as free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny . hitler.

oppose tyranny. hitler. >> well, there you are . there. >> well, there you are. there. his majesty the king, speaking at the royal british legion's commemorative event, where he spoke of that tyranny in present day, linking it back to the past and the fight against hitler. he was wearing his field marshal number for tropical service dress with medals and decorations, and you saw from when they did the cutaway shot there . if you're watching on there. if you're watching on television, a number of the veterans wiping their eyes, clearly moved by what the king was saying and remembering what they were doing, the sacrifices they were doing, the sacrifices they and their friends made 80 years ago. today, of course, we've heard from a number of veterans, and it's a number of engagements which the royal family have been taking part in over the next couple of days, and we've got both president biden of the united states and president emmanuel macron of france . they are also going to france. they are also going to be attending a service with prince william later on today. the international commemorative ceremony is going to be

incredibly poignant. tom and emily, because 25 heads of states and veterans from around the world will be marking that service this afternoon. but an absence of his majesty the king, and that is due, as i understand it, to his health. and doctors had not given him the green light for that particular engagement. so it's going to be prince william representing the king and the united kingdom at that international ceremony this afternoon . afternoon. >> but the king, of course, was there earlier in the day . he's there earlier in the day. he's he's had a half day today in normandy. i suppose. i wonder i speculate if doctors were trying to say, don't go at all, try and rest in the united kingdom. from what i understand about the temperament of the king, he he will have wanted to be here today. yeah, he he wouldn't have given in lightly, let's put it that way. >> and even his his nephew. a couple of weeks ago, peter phillips was saying about how frustrated the king was that he couldn't do all the engagements he wanted to do . the queen is he wanted to do. the queen is also alluded to the fact that he needs to behave himself, i.e. listen to doctors advice. so perhaps a bit of a compromise

has been made today. we saw him in the queen in portsmouth , the in the queen in portsmouth, the commemorations there yesterday, and then equally , as you say, and then equally, as you say, tom, he has travelled to normandy to attend the royal british legion's should we just event. >> sorry to cut into you should we take a little listen of what's happening here? >> l'idee de la legion d'honneur

monsieur john wardle , au monsieurjohn wardle , au nom de monsieurjohn wardle, au nom de la republique francaise . nous la republique francaise. nous vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur. vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur . thank you very legion d'honneur. thank you very much . much. >> thank you . would you >> thank you. would you.

now he wants to say . he wants to now he wants to say. he wants to . stand. monsieur robert pedigo , . stand. monsieur robert pedigo, au nom de la republique francaise . francaise. >> nous vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur.

he he.he he hehe.hehe. he he. he he. >> he . >> monsieur calvin china. au nom de la republique francaise . nous de la republique francaise. nous vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur.

de monsieur edouard. berthold au nom de la republique francaise . nom de la republique francaise. ne vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur.

de. >> an incredibly moving moment there as five veterans were presented, the legion of honour by the french president, emmanuel macron, and the american president, joe biden, there, congratulating them as well the legion of honour, the legion d'honneur, of course, the highest order of merit, both military and civil, in france,

established, first by napoleon in 1802, continuously, given out over more than 200 years. absolutely incredible moment. >> these veterans receiving recognition the highest level from both the president of france and of course, the president of the united states. what an incredible moment to stand there and receive that honoun >> yes. and these are, of course, people who have fought to free both countries . it's to free both countries. it's such a timely reminder of how intertwined our freedoms, our democracy , our liberty, really democracy, our liberty, really can be. but this joint event between the americans and the french, featuring two heads of state, of course, we were discussing that later on, there'll be over 30 heads of state from around the world gathered together on what is a

very , very poignant day, the very, very poignant day, the 80th anniversary of d—day . 80th anniversary of d—day. >> monsieur bill. au nom de la repuquue >> monsieur bill. au nom de la republique francaise . nous vous republique francaise. nous vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur .

monsieur victor shani louk . au monsieur victor shani louk. au nom de la republique francaise . nom de la republique francaise. nous vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur. de.

monsieur raymond. glanzberg au nom de la republique francaise . nom de la republique francaise. nous vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur. de. monsieur richard stuart , au nom

monsieur richard stuart, au nom de la republique francaise . nous de la republique francaise. nous vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur. de. monsieur john kenyon , monsieurjohn kenyon , au nom de monsieurjohn kenyon, au nom de la republique francaise . nous

la republique francaise. nous vous faisons. chevalier de la legion d'honneur. de. de . vie. de. vie. de. vie. de .

>> we're watching the franco—american in service here. honounng franco—american in service here. honouring those who participated in operation overlord in d—day. the liberation of the normandy beaches, which, of course, began the liberation of western europe. let's listen . europe. let's listen. >> secretary of defence of the united states of america . united states of america. >> chef de . akua lloyd austin , >> chef de. akua lloyd austin, rhiannon , secretaire a la rhiannon, secretaire a la defense des etats—unis d'amerique . d'amerique. >> president biden , doctor >> president biden, doctor biden, president macron , mrs.

biden, president macron, mrs. macron, distinguished guests , macron, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and above all, the veterans of world war two. >> i am honoured to stand again at this hallowed place. we bow our heads to remember the more than 9000 us and allied soldiers killed or wounded on d—day by hitler's forces on behalf of the united states department of defence. >> i am here to give thanks . >> i am here to give thanks. inadequate as that word may be. 80 years later, we thank the young americans who took the beaches , who helped liberate beaches, who helped liberate france , and who helped free this france, and who helped free this continent from nazi tyranny . and continent from nazi tyranny. and we thank every allied warrior

who fought for freedom on june 6th, 1944. and we thank the american and allied veterans who have rallied once more on the shores of normandy . victors of shores of normandy. victors of d—day. we are humbled by your presence . the young americans presence. the young americans who fought through the clamour and the chaos on d—day have grown old or leftists . and grown old or leftists. and whenever a veteran of d—day is gathered to his maker in the fullness of time , after a long fullness of time, after a long life lived in freedom , he wins a life lived in freedom, he wins a final victory over hitler. you helped defeat what churchill called a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human

crime . and you laid the crime. and you laid the foundation for a more just, free and decent world together with our allies , we built peace out our allies, we built peace out of war, a hard headed peace , a of war, a hard headed peace, a peace renewed by constant commitment , peace renewed by constant commitment, a peace renewed by constant commitment , a peace forged by commitment, a peace forged by the generation that won the bloodiest war in human history. and so our gratitude must never fade. and so our gratitude must never fade . our freedom in our resolve fade. our freedom in our resolve must never fail. we still seek a world where aggression is a sin and where human rights are sacred, and where all people can live in freedom . and so we must

live in freedom. and so we must rally again to defend the open post—war world of rules, rights and responsibilities . those and responsibilities. those rules protect us. those rights define us, and those responsibilities summon us once more . at this hinge in history , more. at this hinge in history, we must again stand firm against aggression and tyranny . and as aggression and tyranny. and as i said here last year , if the said here last year, if the troops of the world's democracies could risk their lives for freedom, then surely the citizens of the world's democracy can risk our comfort for freedom. now so let us again uphold the spirit of d—day.

for freedom. now so let us again uphold the spirit of d—day . let uphold the spirit of d—day. let us again defend the principles that the allied armies carry . that the allied armies carry. and let us again thank the heroes of d—day who kept freedom alive for us all. you save the . world. you save the world and we must only defend it . gentlemen, we only defend it. gentlemen, we salute you . salute you. may god bless the american and allied troops who fought here. may god bless the united states of america. and may god bless

all who cherish human freedom. thank you . thank you. >> we are at the normandy american cemetery and memorial for a joint american french day of remembrance and events. of course, one of the many events in normandy over the course of today and indeed yesterday, a little later on today, more than 30 world leaders will be gathering for a further ceremony. but now is a moment to observe the americans. let's listen .

listen. in. >> we had no idea what we were going to do or where it would happen, but it was the beginning i >> -- >>a -- >> avery >> a very decisive battle for us because our mission was to establish ourselves on the beach. we were on that boat on the higgins boat. >> everybody talked about the same thing , helping each other same thing, helping each other and not getting killed. >> we started up this sandy area and were hundreds of men inside. >> my father jumped about 130 in >> my fatherjumped about 130 in the morning on june 6th. >> plane was too low . >> plane was too low. >> plane was too low. >> it was too fast. the fire coming up was so thick it was like you could walk on it. >> it wasn't something that we had ever seen before in all of our training. had ever seen before in all of our training . i always have to our training. i always have to say that there was the power of my mother's prayers that saved

me that day. and it gets to me thinking about it . but as i and it gets to me thinking about it. but as i look and it gets to me thinking about it . but as i look over those it. but as i look over those crosses . i it. but as i look over those crosses. i see it. but as i look over those crosses . i see people standing crosses. i see people standing up . even waving . i have to go up. even waving. i have to go back because there's something there that draws you back . i there that draws you back. i have a very close friend that i knew by the name of edward morozevich. he had received a very bad stomach wound, and i could not even bandage it properly. we said goodbye to each other forever. he's laying here on the cemetery here in coalville . i think of the many coalville. i think of the many

men here that paid the ultimate price for the freedom of europe. young people want to know and need to know everybody. i saw that i was glad to fight alongside them. >> they were willing to stand up and not all of them came back . and not all of them came back. >> and they all have a story to tell , and >> and they all have a story to tell, and it's our responsibility to tell those stories . those people will not stories. those people will not be forgotten as long as we keep talking about them .

>> they are not a hero. i just did my job. the real heroes are laying here on the cemeteries. these are our heroes , and we these are our heroes, and we should never forget them .

>> distinguished guests. the 46th president of the united states of america , joseph states of america, joseph r biden, jr. >> and . president des etats—unis >> and. president des etats—unis d'amerique joseph r biden. junior . junior. >> the our had nearly come monday, june 5th, 1944. >> the evil fitly third reich was devastating the world. nazi germany had subjugated the once free nations of europe through brute force lies and twisted

ideology of racial superiority . ideology of racial superiority. vie millions of jews murdered in the holocaust, millions of others killed by bombs, bullets, bloody warfare. hitler and those with him thought democracies were weak, that the future belonged to dictators was here. the coast of normandy . the the coast of normandy. the battle between freedom and tyranny would be joined here on that june morning. the testing was at hand . president macron, was at hand. president macron, mrs. macron , secretary austin, mrs. macron, secretary austin, secretary blinken, distinguished guests , most of all, our guests, most of all, our honoured veterans who met that test at the ages of test of ages to that moment, 80 years ago, 80 years ago today . on behalf of

years ago today. on behalf of the american people and as commander in chief, it's the highest honour to be able to salute you here in normandy once more. all of you. god, love you . more. all of you. god, love you. winston churchill called what happened here? quote, the greatest, most complicated operation ever. end of quote . operation ever. end of quote. after years of planning, operation overlord was ready to launch just as soon as the weather turned across the choppy, choppy english channel. the supreme commander of the allies, dwight d eisenhower , allies, dwight d eisenhower, waited the largest force ever of its kind built by 12 nations men, guns, planes , naval craft men, guns, planes, naval craft of every description waited the

world captive and free. waited finally , vie eisenhower's finally, vie eisenhower's forecaster said , there is forecaster said, there is a window in the weather. it would open briefly on tuesday, the 6th of june. the general weighed the opfions of june. the general weighed the options and gave the order at dawn, the allies would strike. the great crusade to free europe from tyranny would begin that night, general eisenhower drove to the english town of newbury to the english town of newbury to visit paratroopers of the 1015t to visit paratroopers of the 101st airborne. there were men from all over america . the was from all over america. the was estimated that 80% of them would be killed within hours. that was the estimate, but they were brave, they were resolute, and they were ready. one soldier

told general eisenhower, quote , told general eisenhower, quote, don't worry, sir, sir, the 101st is on the job. everything will be taken care of. that's what he said . and because of their said. and because of their courage and the resolve and because the courage and resolve of their allies , it was taken of their allies, it was taken care of from the sky. nearly 160,000 allied troops descended on normandy , many to state the on normandy, many to state the obvious never came home. many survived that longest day , kept survived that longest day, kept on fighting for months until victory was finally won and a few . a notable band of brothers few. a notable band of brothers are here with us today. kenneth blaine smith is here on that day under heavy artillery fire, he operated a rangefinder and radar

on the first american ship to arrive at normandy's coast, providing direct gunfire support for the rangers, scaling the cliffs of pointe du hoc on their danng cliffs of pointe du hoc on their daring mission to take out the german batteries. bob gibson is here. he landed on utah beach about ten hours after the invasion began . bullets flying invasion began. bullets flying everywhere, tracers lighting up the sky. bob drove an m4 tractor with anti—aircraft gun mounted on top , providing critical on top, providing critical protection for the infantry against the german air force. on that day and for many days after, he continued . ben miller after, he continued. ben miller is here, a medic with the 82nd airborne at 3 am. on june 6th, he and 13 other medics flew over the channel in a rickety glider . the channel in a rickety glider. its wings were ripped off by giant poles that the germans

buned giant poles that the germans buried halfway in the ground . to buried halfway in the ground. to stop them from landing. they crashed out, but they survived and they did their duty, dragging injured soldiers to safety, treating wounds , saving safety, treating wounds, saving lives, lives of aged . lg storm lives, lives of aged. lg storm isha, who dropped by parachute or landed by glider every sailor who manned the thousands of ships and landing craft . every ships and landing craft. every aviator who destroyed german controlled airfields, bridges and railroads. all. all were backed by other brave americans , backed by other brave americans, including hundreds of thousands of people of colour and women who courageously served despite unjust limitations on what they could do for their nation . louis could do for their nation. louis brown is here, part of the red ball express, a truck convoy made up of mostly african—american drivers. they landed in normandy in the wake

of d—day. they rushed supplies to the rapidly advancing front lines . woody woodhouse is here. lines. woody woodhouse is here. members of the legendary tuskegee airmen , who flew over tuskegee airmen, who flew over 15,000 sorties during the war. marjorie stone is here. she enlisted in the women's branch of the naval reserve, became an aircraft mechanic, spent the war keeping american planes and pilots in the air. theirs has always been the story of america . just walk the roads of this cemetery as i have nearly 10,000 heroes buried side by side . heroes buried side by side. officers and enlisted immigrants and native born different races, different faiths. but all americans all serve with honour. when america and the world needed them most ,

when america and the world needed them most, millions back home did their part as well. from coast to coast, americans found countless ways to pitch in. they understood our democracy is only as strong as all of us make it together. the men who fought here became heroes not because they were the strongest or toughest or fiercest. although they were, but because their audacious mission , knowing every one of mission, knowing every one of them knew the probability of dying was real. but they did it anyway . they knew beyond any anyway. they knew beyond any doubt. anyway. they knew beyond any doubt . there are anyway. they knew beyond any doubt. there are things anyway. they knew beyond any doubt . there are things that anyway. they knew beyond any doubt. there are things that are worth fighting and dying for. freedom is worth it. democracy is worth it . america is worth is worth it. america is worth it. the world is worth it. then, now and always. the war in europe didn't end for another 11

months, but here the tide turned in our favour. here we prove the forces of liberty are stronger than the forces of conquest. here we proved that the ideals of our democracy are stronger than any army or combination of armies in the entire world. we prove something else here as well. the unbreakable unity of the allies . here with us, our the allies. here with us, our men who served alongside the americans that day , wearing americans that day, wearing different flags on their arms , different flags on their arms, but fighting with the same courage for the same purpose , is courage for the same purpose, is what the allies did together 80 years ago, far surpassed anything we could have done on our own . it was a powerful our own. it was a powerful illustration of how alliances, real alliances, make us stronger

. a lesson that i pray we americans never forget . together americans never forget. together we won the war. we rebuilt europe, including our former enemies, was an investment in what became shared and a prosperous future. we established nato , the greatest established nato, the greatest military alliance in the history of the world, and over time , you of the world, and over time, you got it. is and over time , we got it. is and over time, we brought more nations into nato. the nato alliance, including the newest members, finland and sweden . today, nato sweden. today, nato stands at 32 countries strong , and nato is countries strong, and nato is more united than ever and even more united than ever and even more prepared to keep the peace,

deter aggression , and defend deter aggression, and defend freedom all around the world. america has invested in our alliances and forged new ones, not simply out of altruism , but not simply out of altruism, but out of our own self—interest as well . america's unique ability well. america's unique ability to bring countries together is an undeniable source of our strength and our power. isolationism was not the answer. 80 years ago and is not the answer today . we know the dark answer today. we know the dark forces that these heroes fought against 80 years ago. they never fade. against 80 years ago. they never fade . aggression and greed, the fade. aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force. these are perennial. to change borders by force. these are perennial . the these are perennial. the struggle between a dictatorship and freedom is unending. here in

europe, we see one stark example ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant bent on domination . tyrant bent on domination. ukrainians are fighting with extraordinary courage, suffering great losses, but never backing . great losses, but never backing. down. they've inflicted on the russian aggressor. they've suffered tremendous losses . suffered tremendous losses. russia. the numbers are staggering. 350,000 russian troops dead or wounded . nearly troops dead or wounded. nearly 1 million people have left russia because they can no longer see a future in russia. the united states and nato and a coalition of more than 50 countries is standing strong with ukraine. we will not walk away . because if will not walk away. because if we do , ukraine will be

we do, ukraine will be subjugated and it will not end there. ukraine's neighbours will be threatened, all of europe will be threatened . and make no will be threatened. and make no mistake, the autocrats of the world are watching closely to see what happens in ukraine, to see what happens in ukraine, to see if we let this illegal aggression go unchecked. we cannot let that happen. to surrender to bullies , to bow surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable. all . where we to do unthinkable. all. where we to do that? it means we'd be forgetting what happened here in these hallowed beaches. make no mistake , we will not bow down. mistake, we will not bow down. we will not forget. let me end with this . history tells us with this. history tells us freedom is not free. if you want to know the price of freedom, come here to normandy. come to

normandy and look. go to the other cemeteries in europe where our fallen heroes rest. go back home to arlington cemetery . home to arlington cemetery. tomorrow i will pay respects at pointe du hoc. go there as well. and remember , the price of and remember, the price of unchecked charity is the blood of the young and the brave. in their generation and their hour of trial. the allied forces of d—day did their duty. now the question for us is in our hour of trial, will we do ours? we're living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world than any point since the end of the world war two, since these beaches were stormed in 1944. now we have to ask ourselves , now we have to ask ourselves, will we stand against tyranny, against evil , against crushing against evil, against crushing brutality of the iron fist , or brutality of the iron fist, or will we stand for freedom? we defend democracy . we stand defend democracy. we stand together. my answer is yes and

only can be yes. together. my answer is yes and only can be yes . we're not far only can be yes. we're not far off from the time when the last living voices, those who fought and bled on d—day, will no longer be with us. so we have a special obligation. we cannot let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come. we must remember. it must honour it and live it. we must remember the fact that they were heroes here that day does not absolve us from what we have to do today . democracy is never do today. democracy is never guaranteed. every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it. that's the test of the ages . in memory of those who the ages. in memory of those who fought here, died , died here, fought here, died, died here, literally saved the world here. let us be worthy of their sacrifice. let us be the generation that when history is written about our time in ten,

20, 30, 50, 80 years from now , 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now, it will be said, when the moment came , we met. the moment we came, we met. the moment we stood strong , our alliances were stood strong, our alliances were made stronger. we saved democracy in our time as well . democracy in our time as well. thank you very much and may god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you . protect our troops. thank you. >> president biden speaking there at a joint american and french service at the normandy american cemetery and memorial, which is one of the largest american cemeteries outside of the united states. but let's turn now to what else is going on across normandy today, near gold beach is ellie costello. and ellie, you're very close to where prince william is. tell us what's going on.

>> yes, we're in arromanches right now, which is just off from gold beach , which is where from gold beach, which is where 25,000 british troops landed and stormed these beaches on the 6th of june, 1944. we're in parade square right now. we're expecting those 23 or so veterans who managed to make the journey from the uk to normandy this year to parade through these streets. you might be able to make out behind me the hundreds and hundreds of people that are behind that barrier. they're hoping to shake hands with some of those veterans, but in the past few moments or so, the prince of wales, prince william, has left the d—day museum, which is on this square. he crossed the square and he spoke to four veterans at the top of this square here. they're actually four veterans that i spoke to a little bit earlier on

this morning. their names are stephen hall, clarence heal and paul hayward. they're all from the gloucestershire regiment, and they have served in more recent services. they've served in iraq, afghanistan and northern ireland. but they arrange these trips for veterans of other services to come here and pay respects, pay their respects to the men that went before them in that great generation , the men that generation, the men that sacrificed so very much on the 6th of june, 1944 and in the days that followed, and speaking to them this morning, there was so much raw emotion. paul, one of the veterans, was actually in tears talking about a d—day veteran that he got very close to in the past few years on these special trips that they make for every d—day and versary that veteran has recently died and he was crying this morning talking to me because i think it's been a theme of this week.

people are realising that we are losing this great generation. unfortunately as the king referred to yesterday, those numbers of those veterans are dwindling. so i think it meant so much to them that prince william was here. he spent a good five minutes speaking with those three gentlemen, i'm sure, about their experiences serving in iraq, afghanistan and northern ireland and we know how close those links are, don't we? between the royal family and our armed forces, we've seen that across this week. the king and queen in portsmouth yesterday , queen in portsmouth yesterday, the queen being so visibly emotional speaking to that veteran who was describing his experience on d—day. and yesterday i was with princess anne at the afternoon tea for the veterans, for the royal british legion. and she, just like prince william, gave so much time to each individual veteran and try and hear their story. and that's so beautiful for us to see as civilians that

the royal family has such a respect and reverence for our armed forces . these are the men armed forces. these are the men and the women that will fight. now for king and country or queen and country, as they have done previously. and you can see that respect that they have . that respect that they have. prince william then took a few minutes speaking to the crowds here, many behind the barriers you can imagine the excitement for people here all around the world to shake hands with prince william and to thank him for coming so tom and emily, we are waiting now the next 40 minutes or so we are expecting to see those wonderful 23 veterans, those wonderful 23 veterans, those brave, courageous men coming through here to really do a lap of honour and be applauded and revered by the crowds that have been waiting here for hours in this sun. and i hope that they feel loved and respected and admired, because they are all of those things. and more . all of those things. and more. >> oh, ali, that will be massively moving as as a moment.

and it was wonderful when we were listening to president joe biden, we were also watching prince william greeter greet the crowds and greet the veterans. very touching indeed. thank you so much, ellie costello live there from parade square in normandy. shall we bring in military historian peter caddick—adams , who is joining us caddick—adams, who is joining us here in the studio in paddington 7 here in the studio in paddington ? remarkable footage there. we were seeing the franco—american ceremony. we saw president biden deliver his speech, then to cross over and see what our royal family is up to for this occasion. we do this terribly well. >> i for a while, the 75th anniversary was going to be the last one, and then everybody was suddenly realised that the veterans were suddenly going, very, very quickly . there would very, very quickly. there would be very few left. and all of a sudden, the powers that be ran this up. really? pretty short notice. this up. really? pretty short nofice.so this up. really? pretty short notice. so all that we've seen

in portsmouth last night and in normandy today hasn't been that long in the planning, and it is absolutely spectacular. and the royal family have delivered in style , and fortunately the style, and fortunately the weather has held up as well . so weather has held up as well. so it's just one of those moving occasions we do particularly well. >> i should explain that we're listening to american in, service here, just gently playing in the background at that normandy american cemetery and memorial, shall we listen in

just. now.

>> now with us watching . this >> now with us watching. this is, of course, peter caddick—adams, the military historian . and, peter, you were historian. and, peter, you were saying earlier that presidents of the united states started going to this 40 years ago on the 40th anniversary with ronald reagan. >> ronald reagan was the first who really made this a big, big ceremony, for the 40th anniversary, and he used the occasion to take the commemorations away from this cemetery and put them on a, a clifftop site that had been

assaulted by us rangers and he had a very cleverly crafted speech which talked all about the cold war. so ever since then, every american president whose round on d—day anniversary has been celebrated has come along . and it has along. and it has internationalised the commemoration year. and gradually, the family of nations commemorating this has grown. so now the germans are welcome. chancellor schultz is over talking with president macron. well, ten, 15 years ago that wasn't the case. it was too difficult. it was too raw , and difficult. it was too raw, and of course, ten years ago, vladimir putin had been invited and turned up, no longer, of course , because the behaviour of course, because the behaviour of his country is sort of, ruled that out. >> and in some ways, the way in which reagan contemporised the memorial, looking at, looking at what was going on with the second world war in some ways , second world war in some ways, joe biden's speech today was was

making this contemporary talking about what was going on in ukraine. it would be hard to imagine vladimir putin sitting, listening to that. >> yeah. of course, but there's a tadge , dare i say, of a tadge, dare i say, of electioneering going on here as well. but we heard the words ukraine several times crop up. so this was his, chance to speak in a, an official capacity yet do some unofficial, election nearing. but of course, he and, president macron are as one in terms of their thoughts on, on ukraine and the russian invasion. but let's not let that sort of, cast too much of a shadow over what is a fantastic occasion. >> i should just say we just saw emmanuel macron practically sprint across the stage there. perhaps he'd forgotten to shake hands or greet, several veterans. he he couldn't have run faster towards him. then for a second, what a remarkable moment of television. but i suppose it does just show the

gravity of this situation . tell gravity of this situation. tell us a little bit about what is being remembered here today. >> okay. well, from president macron's point of view , there macron's point of view, there were only 177 french troops which landed on d—day , and the which landed on d—day, and the last one has just died, so he he there is paying tribute to the americans on behalf of his nafion americans on behalf of his nation because his own troops have now no longer with us. but there were french sailors offshore in several warships and 4 or 5 squadrons of french aircraft flying overhead. so they had a an important but and significant contribution in but what's being commemorated here. we've got several focuses of commemoration and before for today the british didn't have their own d—day focus of commemoration in normandy. the site where the royal family have been, where prince william is at the moment , been, where prince william is at the moment, where the service came from this morning is brand new, and it was only conceived

of after the 75th anniversary and has been built since then. so it's only recently complete , so it's only recently complete, it's on a fantastic site on a small oval , sort of hillock that small oval, sort of hillock that overlooks the, one of the beaches, gold beach. you can see the sea from there. you can see where everyone would have come in. you can see some of the artificial harbour. and there has been placed all around the memorial silhouettes for one, for each of every soldier who died on d—day , serving under died on d—day, serving under british command. >> and as, early noted a little earlier, ellie costello, there are so very few veterans from d—day, from the second world war left how can we continue to mark this moment and ensure that future generations don't forget what happened and make sure they learn it some for the first time? >> well, i mean, two things. we are also commemorating the civilians who got caught up in this, and lots of french civilians sort of suffered. but

there is a generation who are still with us who were young at the time, maybe they were teenagers, maybe they were, only sort of 6 or 7, but they're still with us, and they remember the story, whether they're french or british. and of course, d—day is actually the story, not just of those who landed on that day, not just the service people who fought through the campaign in 1944, 77 days, of which this is the first, but everyone who who suppued first, but everyone who who supplied all those troops. so everyone who was manufacturing tanks, packing parachutes , tanks, packing parachutes, loading ships, all the rest of it. and that's a good chunk of the british nation who are who were all involved in that . so were all involved in that. so there are more d—day veterans than you might first think. they didn't have to be in uniform carrying a weapon, or even producing a weapon. >> there were people working on the intelligence side of things, and one of my favourite

elements, the deception side of things , the inflatable tanks, things, the inflatable tanks, the plywood planes that were placed in southeast england to fool the germans that we wanted to actually cross over to calais. >> yeah. i mean, we couldn't hide the fact that the united kingdom had essentially become an american aircraft carrier, and so all you could do was inflate the actual number of troops we had stationed here and fool the germans into thinking we might attack somewhere else, so that when we landed, it was quite obvious this was a major invasion . we all we could do was invasion. we all we could do was sow doubt in berlin that, yes, this was an invasion. but was it the invasion ? and they they. and the invasion? and they they. and because we had double agents as well, that caused a lot of upset in german high command for two months and they didn't release. how spread out were those german defences? >> because of course , they had >> because of course, they had years to fortify those beaches. rommel had piled in his sticks and all the rest of it. but but,

did we were we successful in sort of making sure that they were more likely defended than would otherwise be the case? >> well, what we have to remember is d—day is a snapshot in time. and every day you delay d—day, the german defences get stronger. they are building them every single day, so when we arrive, they stop building them. but up until that moment, the day before, they're still building and pouring concrete in. this isn't a finished piece of work. so the german defences sooner or later would get too strong and impregnable for us to actually assault . that's the actually assault. that's the that's the thing to remember. and it doesn't matter how strong the allies are. there would have come a time where we would have had to look elsewhere , so the had to look elsewhere, so the clock was ticking for us as it was for everybody else at the time. >> well, peter, we're going to be returning to you, so please do stick around. don't go too far away . peter caddick—adams, far away. peter caddick—adams, who is a military historian, thank you very much indeed. >> now, as we touched on earlier d—day events are taking place

right across the uk today and we're crossing now to gb news home and security editor mark white, who's at the arboretum in staffordshire, and gb news reporters tony maguire at glasgow cathedral and anna o'reilly in scunthorpe, mark, we're going to start with you at the arboretum. what is taking place today ? well, right on cue, place today? well, right on cue, the band of the royal yeomanry has actually started playing to here the crowd, the crowd gathering in numbers. >> now there's going to be a thousand invited guests. >> we're just going to show you some of the crowd here. >> very enthusiastic , listening >> very enthusiastic, listening to the music. there from the royal yeomanry. just so we're expecting the duke and duchess of edinburgh to arrive here shortly as well, along with other vips and senior military leaders for this event. so it is

something that will, of course, like all of the other commemoration events that have been taking place here in the uk and across in normandy , be and across in normandy, be something that is incredibly moving. there are 26 veterans who will be here from the uk, the youngest amir, 96 years of age now , you might quickly be age now, you might quickly be doing your calculations and realise you could possibly have been a d—day veteran , as you'd been a d—day veteran, as you'd only have been 16 at the time. well, he actually altered the details on his ration book to ensure that he still was able to fight . so he went off and he fight. so he went off and he fought at the age of just 16. and my colleague jack carson has been talking to another of the veterans, tom hill, who was with the royal marines on one of the landing craft that went into sword beach. and he saw some very terrible scenes. of course,

the second wave that went in, this is what he told jack a little earlier, being mowed down, because there must have been a pillbox that got stationed onto them, and i shouted, what's it like, the other side? >> and they said, it's all right, the other side. i said, well, we're not getting rid of my lot. i'll come round and pick you up. might get, you know, in 30, 60 as well. i thought i said because i can carry 36 in my craft and i'll take it in and you won't get your feet wet because we could hit the beach. they were some way off the beach i >> -- >> well, thank you very much indeed. mark white, let's turn to anna riley. anna, you're in scunthorpe for us. >> good afternoon. yes, i'm here

at saint laurence's church in scunthorpe, where there's currently a service that's being led by reverend frew with in partnership with the royal british legion . that service, british legion. that service, commemorating 80 years on since those d—day landings back on june the 6th, 1944. you may also be able to see a bagpipe player behind me. he was piping people as they came in. it wasn't just the royal british legion. there was also a variety of cadets, sea cadets, marine cadets , air sea cadets, marine cadets, air cadets and police cadets, along with veterans and other members of the armed forces community. and this event is all being led by north lincolnshire council . by north lincolnshire council. jul. earlier this morning there was a parade in the central square in scunthorpe in which over 100 cadets marched out in front of the mayor, who then gave a speech all about d—day, all about why it's so important

that we remember the fallen and pass on that legacy to the younger generation , not just younger generation, not just cadets, but younger people, making them aware of the lessons of history. and on that note , i of history. and on that note, i spoke to anthony bishop earlier. he is the civilian instructor for the sea and marine cadets and this is what he had to say. >> i believe that if we don't learn by our mistakes , we will learn by our mistakes, we will make them again. so therefore sea cadets, marine cadets, army cadets, all cadets need to help and support of our peers and people in authority so we can train them, teach them , educate train them, teach them, educate them so we don't make the same mistake . mistake. >> wise words from anthony there. this service that's currently going on will end at around 2:00. and then there'll be a wreath laying at the

cenotaph nearby for people to pay cenotaph nearby for people to pay their respects to those who gave their lives for our freedoms those 80 years ago. anna riley in scunthorpe, thank you very much. >> let's cross to glasgow now with tony maguire and tony. you're at glasgow cathedral. >> yes that's correct. >> yes that's correct. >> this morning there was, you know, a really moving emotionally charged service here at glasgow cathedral led by reverend mark johnston. and he spoke to many people across the armed services who were there, as well as glasgow's own lord provost , you know, and he he provost, you know, and he he gave one of his his classic sermons, which reached out and encouraged that the messages of sacrifice and courage that we saw on the beaches of normandy 80 years ago, that it's our duty and our service to be able to pass them on to other generations . now, he actually

generations. now, he actually made the point that, d—day, or war, shall we say, is a lot like easter. you know, you you don't want the crucifixion , but you do want the crucifixion, but you do want the crucifixion, but you do want the crucifixion, but you do want the easter bunny and the easter eggs. and similarly with war. well, we like to talk about the victories , but we pause when the victories, but we pause when we consider that the conflict which led to them. now, as i mentioned , the lord provost of mentioned, the lord provost of glasgow, she was in attendance , glasgow, she was in attendance, jacqueline mclaren. and i asked her about the importance of passing the torch to the younger generations . as our veterans generations. as our veterans grow that much older , what is grow that much older, what is your message to them, to the younger generations , of why it's younger generations, of why it's so important that we remember ? so important that we remember? >> well, glasgow, we lost a lot of people in glasgow when we joined up the d—day landings , joined up the d—day landings, and i think future generations have to realise that the loss that the city suffered, and not just the d—day landings, but in the two world conflicts we have

actually lost a lot of service people. >> it's always important to remember the people who have given their lives for their country. it's really, really important to remember that . important to remember that. >> tastic. and just very quickly, what did you make of today's service ? today's service? >> today's service was actually it was a lovely service, a beautiful singing, and everybody was in a really good mood remembering the past. it was lovely . lovely. >> now, now a slightly different pace will be this evening when at the usher hall in edinburgh, scotland . salute concert will scotland. salute concert will play scotland. salute concert will play out to a sold out show where there will be a variety of music that is inspired by first hand accounts from the beaches of normandy. but certainly scotland doing its part today and into tonight to remember those who never came home. >> tony mcguire. thank you very much for bringing us that. and indeed thank you too, to mark and anna for, reporting across

the country on this day, the 80th anniversary of d—day. >> yes, commemorations across the country, let's bring back in our military historian and, peter caddick—adams , peter, peter caddick—adams, peter, i was just thinking , as all of was just thinking, as all of this is going on and all these commemorations and the various events, it's so hard to get get my head around the age of these young men and what it would have been like to leave their families, leave their family, their friends, partners, whatever else, to go and fight for their country. you just can't imagine it in this privileged life that many of us lead. it's that age group who happen to be born in, say, 1919 to 1922, 23, who had just caught up. >> so when you interview them and i've interviewed probably a couple of thousand, the first thing they'll say is i wasn't a hero. i just my whole generation often did something. we all went

into uniform and some of us ended up on the d—day beaches andifs ended up on the d—day beaches and it's worth remembering that, you know, whilst we're commemorating d—day , there are commemorating d—day, there are other soldiers who who are still alive, still with us veterans who were fighting in italy, there were others in burma and malaya . in the far east. there malaya. in the far east. there were, those sailors on the high seas all over the place. so this is just a microcosm of a whole generation. and, you didn't really have any option because this was the days of conscription and national service. >> but there were those. i was speaking to a 98 year old veteran the other day , les veteran the other day, les underwood, who came into the studio, and he said he'd tried to join the military at 14, but they'd realised he was far too young, he persevered and he tried at 16, 17 and then off he was well, they were different. >> they they had different entry ages. you could join the royal

marines younger, there was a tradition of boy soldiers who could train, but not deploy, and of course, there was the tradition from the first world war of faking your age. >> yes. >> yes. >> because, you know, we didn't have biometric passports or anything else like that. so providing your mum didn't find out, you, you know, you , you out, you, you know, you, you once you crept down to the recruiting office, hopefully no one would recognise you. and you just fake white was telling us the details of a sprightly young 96 year old who, at the age of 16, forged his own ration book in order to sign up and then and then cross the channel and fight on d—day . on d—day. >> this must have been going on an industrial scale . an industrial scale. >> well, i've also formed a friendship with a french resistance worker, john germ, who's come over here and become a naturalised brit, but at the age of 16, he walked out of his school in the summer of 1944, into the woods where he knew the partisans were and started fighting against the germans. aged 16, captured some germans on their way to the invasion

beaches. stop them getting there. took them prisoner , and there. took them prisoner, and was given a choir together by general de gaulle for doing it. >> and what do you make of the, the state of our armed forces as it stands in this country ? how it stands in this country? how long have i spoken? well, give us, you know , a minute, a minute us, you know, a minute, a minute of your time. explain how you see it. >> well, i mean, they're far too small , and >> well, i mean, they're far too small, and they're shrinking further, which is a great shame. and i mean, there's no way that they could do this. even in 1944, there was no way any single nation was powerful enough to do d—day. the americans couldn't have done d—day on their own, which is why they get a third of it effectively . or the brits get effectively. or the brits get a third and the canadians get a third. plus all our sort of commonwealth partners as well. so this is all about sort of coalition warfare and even more today. the sad thing is, you know, our contribution will be even smaller and we'd be reliant on a lot more coalition

partners. >> and yet after the war, it was britain that was fundamental in ensuring that nato was established. it was britain that was at the centre of that transatlantic alliance that has lasted beyond that has continued in in terms of military training, in terms of joint operations , all the rest of it, operations, all the rest of it, that alliance that was forged through the second world war. >> well, let's say that we're commemorating, of >> well, let's say that we're commemorating , of course, >> well, let's say that we're commemorating, of course, is shorthand for the end of the second world war, there's a it lasts for nearly another year. 8th of may, 1945 is when it finishes , and then when you finishes, and then when you think ahead, april 1949. so only four years later, we go into nato and it was never anticipated we'd be at war if only a cold war with the soviets , so nato is a copy of all of this and nato really is born on d—day, the 6th of june, 1940, at a school in midwestern united

states . states. >> winston churchill stood up. when was it? in 1940? 1946 46, saying that from stettin in the baltic to trieste in the adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. >> he'd rehearsed the line a little bit earlier, and it sounded good. so it was heavily trailed, the town where he spoke had a population of 8000, and there were 40,000 people who turned up on the day to listen to him , because press releases to him, because press releases have been scattered by, like , have been scattered by, like, confetti, you know, anticipating what he was going to say. so, but, i mean, it was one of his most significant speeches, but this was on obviously after the second world war. but i do believe that, you know, d—day is the start of nato. and that's why it's so important , because why it's so important, because that's where we learn coalition building . that's why eisenhower building. that's why eisenhower is not really an an army general. he's a politician in uniform. and he of course, he's the first commander of nato. so this is why it's so important

today and today. you know, this this is commemorating , you know, this is commemorating, you know, british forces. but in france, fighting alongside the french, i mean, the range of nationalities, the fleet was eight nations, providing warships . and you've got all warships. and you've got all sorts of commonwealth contingents. we had australians here flying overhead, with the royal blues, eight nations, mainly from what was then the british empire. no no no no no no. we had yes, americans and canadians, but we had the free french navy , the free polish french navy, the free polish navy, the greeks contributed , navy, the greeks contributed, the norwegians contributed. so the norwegians contributed. so the coalition was as wide as possible. and then when the ground troops landed, we had a free polish, large free polish detachment, a belgian battle group, a czech battle group, and they all came under allied command. and a few d—day veterans have come out in the press and said that they support the idea of bringing back national service .

national service. >> yes. now, of course, this is a political point at the moment, but your thoughts on that? >> well, i'm not sure that national service is necessarily appropriate in the 21st century for highly technological, armies and we have sold off so much of the defence estate, that , you the defence estate, that, you run the risk of your active army , stopping doing what they should be doing and training the new recruits for a national sort of for conscripts. and what can you do with them for a year? you can get limited . it is sadly so. can get limited. it is sadly so. i think that bus has sort of, you know, that's gone now. well, peter , you're talking about the peter, you're talking about the technological form of warfare that we now see all of this high technology. >> we're going to return to you in a bit, but what a moment to cross to boca chica, texas , cross to boca chica, texas, where the world's most powerful rocket, elon musk's starship, is preparing for its fourth launch in history. the first two times

it tried to do this, it blew up the second time. the third time it tried to do this, it got into the atmosphere, only to blow up when returning back to earth. this is the opportunity for elon musk. elon musk's most powerful rocket to finally fly without a hitch going off. >> he keeps trying , doesn't he? >> he keeps trying, doesn't he? he keeps trying. >> fourth time lucky. could it be all? my four is my lucky number, so let's hope it's elon's . elon's. >> this is of course, the iterative design process. it's almost testing to destruction, so it'll be a fascinating thing to watch in eight seconds time. let's listen . ten. let's listen. ten. >> nine. eight. seven. six. five. four. three. we have lift—off .

lift—off. >> the vehicle is pitching downrange . downrange. all right. 30s into flight. the. the rumbles are still building here. and the raptor's nest. we're seeing 32 out of 33 engines lit on the super heavy right now. coming up shortly . right now. coming up shortly. >> this rocket is larger than big ben. it stands at a height of 121.3m and costs . $100 of 121.3m and costs. $100 million per launch. you can see the merlin engines at the base of the rocket lit up. they're going so far without a hitch. this is more successful than

some of those launches we've seen of the of the past , the seen of the of the past, the issues, the rapid unscheduled disassemblies, which is the word that spacex likes to use for explosion, rapid unscheduled disassembly, a $100 million per flight per flight , per flight. flight per flight, per flight. >> good value, tom, good value. >> good value, tom, good value. >> it all depends because this is designed to be a reusable rocket . now it's bad value if rocket. now it's bad value if you have to throw away the rocket every single time you fire it. but if elon musk can crack the big question that spacex flight has been trying to crack well since the days it started, what the space shuttle was meant to achieve rapidly reusable rocketry. of course, that didn't quite get there. they threw away most of the rockets and had to spend months disassembling and reassembling space shuttles in order to get them going. the idea behind this rocket is rapid reusability, a bit like we use aeroplanes just

being able to fire it up , land being able to fire it up, land it, refill it, and let it go again. we're not there yet, but every single test they gather data, they prepare, and they build the next model with the knowledge of what they learnt doing things like this. >> i love how excited you get about these rocket launches. it is really brilliant stuff. do you know why it is in boca chica, texas? >> yes. >> yes. >> go on the. >>— >> go on the. >> it's best to perform your flights closest to the equator that you possibly can, right? if you want to do, geo stationary orbit, if you want to get out high up into space, flying from the equator is the most efficient place to fly from. so nasa use florida? of course. it dips down, deep, close to the equator, but still on contiguous us territory, boca chica, texas is even further south. it's right at the tip of texas. there perfect place. the south of the

country. as good a place as you can get in the contiguous 48. doesit can get in the contiguous 48. does it look like everything's gone? okay, this so far looks like a perfect rocket launch. you can see the outer ring of merlin engines has now shut off, they will be attempting to detach the lower stage from the upper stage, which will be a significant moment, but, here we go. we can just see the articulated grid fin on the left of our screen there. right. >> well, we'll deliver you any updates on this rocket launch, whether it does, complete successfully, but coming up, we're going to bring you more live coverage of the 80th anniversary of d—day. of course, as the duke and duchess of edinburgh attend the royal british legion service. you don't want to miss it. and, there you go. we'll end with those pictures of elon musk's rocket launch . shut down her rocket launch. shut down her confirmation . confirmation. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb

news. >> hello there. welcome to your latest gb news weather forecast. low pressure generally is in charge of our weather, so further outbreaks of rain, some showers and fairly cool breeze as well. and we can see that on the pressure. >> set up a cool northerly wind extending across the uk right through the rest of the week into the weekend, so temperatures largely below average for the time of year through this evening time. >> showers tend to fade away for much of the uk, however, later on and into the early hours, we'll see a band of rain push into western parts of scotland, northern ireland as well. >> some of this rain could be heavy at times and accompanied by some brisk winds. temperatures in towns and cities generally 6 to 10 celsius in the countryside lower than this, so it will be a chilly start to friday morning, but plenty of dry weather across england and wales. however we can see across scotland a wet start to the day as this outbreaks of rain push their way slowly south eastwards. temperatures in the range of 7 to 9 celsius. quite

brisk winds around the coasts and a cloudy start for northern ireland. parts of northern england too, as this rain band slowly pushes its way southwards . bright starts across england and wales, however, showers in the west and east slowly start to push their way eastwards, some of them turning heavy as we go through the day and the area of rain across the north just slowly push its way southwards. but turns into an area of showers by the afternoon. blustery showers falling on behind. quite a brisk north westerly breeze here, so just taking the edge off the temperatures in the best of the shelter spots in the south with lighter winds. highs approaching 20 celsius, but a lot of cloud around and in the winds in the north will make it feel quite chilly. 13 to 16 degrees here as we head through friday evening. further showery outbreaks of rain piling into northern and western parts of scotland generally dry and clear and chilly elsewhere, and then into the weekend . it remains cool, the weekend. it remains cool, unsettled, sunny spells and showers for most of us. see you again soon.

>> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers

gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 2:00 on thursday, the 6th of june. i'm tom harwood, and i'm emily carver here now. today marks a very special day. the 80th anniversary of d—day, when around 160,000 allied troops landed in normandy , marking the landed in normandy, marking the beginning of the liberation of western europe . western europe. >> and we'll be crossing over live to the international ceremony at omaha beach in normandy. as the prince of wales and keir starmer will join more than 25 heads of states and veterans from around the world and back on british soil. >> it's the uk national service of remembrance at the national memorial memorial arboretum, with hopes of an upcoming

fly—past attended by the duke and duchess of edinburgh . >> now, we asked a little earlier on in the show at the start of the show, actually at 12:00, for you to send in some of your comments, perhaps stories, connections you might have to d—day or veterans of d—day. carole says, my uncle tommy was one of the first one, was one of the first of the british soldiers to land on gold beach on the 6th of june, 1944, while fighting their way across germany, he and his comrades came across the daughter of a german family who was helping the british soldiers when the war was finally over, uncle tommy went back to germany and found this young woman and brought her back to england. after a while they got married and she became my auntie hannah,

and she became my auntie hannah, a beautiful lady, and they had many, many happy years together. what a lovely story , carol. what a lovely story, carol. >> oh absolutely remarkable. do we have any more ? we have any more? >> well, ian has a point to raise. he says the d—day anniversary coverage on gb news should be being broadcast into every uk school today, because it is that important. it is that important. >> it was so interesting watching dougie beattie up there in northern ireland with all of those children at the at the event that he was at looking at the history and participating in the history and participating in the history and participating in the history , really, and that's the history, really, and that's going to that's the way to get children interested , isn't it, children interested, isn't it, to participate in that in that way. >> and this will stay with them for the rest of their lives. >> really important stuff. well keep them coming in. >> keep your comments coming in and stories gbnews.com forward slash your say. but let's get the headlines with sophia. >> good afternoon from the gb

newsroom at 2:02. your top story this hour. the king has spoken of his profound sense of gratitude to those who fought in the d—day invasion as he addressed veterans during the 80th anniversary commemoration in normandy, veterans could be seen wiping their eyes with tissues as charles made his address at the national commemorative event in france. they were joined by prime minister rishi sunak, labour leader sir keir starmer and french president emmanuel macron i >> -- >> it is with lam m >> it is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all those who served at that critical time . we served at that critical time. we recall the lesson that comes to us again and again across the decades. free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny .

together to oppose tyranny. >> meanwhile, us president joe biden is also in france , where biden is also in france, where he was joined by president macron at a d—day ceremony in normandy. >> president macron , mrs. >> president macron, mrs. macron, secretary austin, secretary blinken , distinguished secretary blinken, distinguished guests most of all our honoured veterans who met that test at the ages of test of ages to that moment on behalf of the american people and as commander in chief, it's the highest honour to be able to salute you here in normandy once more. all of you, god love you . god love you. >> and in the uk, d—day commemorations are also underway across the country. in lisburn in northern ireland, the town crier delivered a d—day proclamation in scunthorpe has also marked the event, and a beacon lighting ceremony will take place in kent. the princess royal joined chelsea pensioners at the royal chelsea hospital in

london for a special d—day commemoration . the prime commemoration. the prime minister has pledged to boost veteran benefits in an election, offering rishi sunak says he wants to make the uk the best place in the world to have served in the armed forces. the policy pledge on the 80th anniversary of d—day includes reducing the price of veterans railcards from £30 a year to £21 and extending the existing national insurance relief for employers who hire ex—military members. labour claims the tory record on veterans is shameful and their election plans mean no change. but secretary for state for work and pensions mel stride says it's an important step forward if we are to be re—elected and there will be looking at further plans and strategic plans that there will be a duty on ministers to come forward with, we're going to be decreasing the cost of the rail car to veterans from 30 to £21.

>> we're going to be extending the national insurance reductions that are available to employers that recruit veterans, for example, where we know we have higher employment rates amongst veterans than we do across the population more generally. so we stand full square with them . and i think, square with them. and i think, you know, this is an important step forward . step forward. >> but shadow defence secretary john healey says labour would go further for veterans . further for veterans. >> unfortunately, the government has created over 14 years of postcode lottery on help for veterans . veterans. >> they've halved the support on employment and they've allowed veterans homelessness to rise over the last year, not end it. and there's much more that can be done and needs to be done, we would start by putting fully into law the armed forces covenant. into law the armed forces covenant . now, that would covenant. now, that would reinforce and strengthen the rights of veterans to services and also of service personnel and also of service personnel and their families. we'd also legislate in the first year of a labour government for a new

independent armed forces commissioner. >> meanwhile, liberal democrats leader sir ed davey said it is critical to pass on the memory of d—day to young people. >> it's critical we remember them and that we pass that memory on to our children and young people. >> it was the most important moment in our country's history, and i think the world's history. >> it was a fight for freedom, a fight for democracy. if those brave men and women hadn't fought that day and gone onto those beaches , we might not be those beaches, we might not be having the election of this at the moment. we might not have the moment. we might not have the freedoms we enjoy. that's how important it is. the freedoms we enjoy. that's how important it is . and so we how important it is. and so we must remember them and thank them . them. >> and some news. just in more than 100 people are being treated in hospital after an e coli outbreak was linked to a nationally distributed food item, the uk health security agency says testing indicates that most of the 113 cases reported in the uk are part of a single outbreak , but has not single outbreak, but has not given more details about the

food item. thought to be responsible . and for the latest responsible. and for the latest story, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news common alerts. now it's back to tom and . emily. >> it's 2:08, and you're watching special d—day coverage here on gb news. delighted to say that we're joined now by anne—marie trevelyan, a minister at the foreign office. former armed forces minister, of course, and conservative parliamentary candidate for nonh parliamentary candidate for north northumberland. anne—marie, thank you so much for joining us today. first of all, this is a large day, a big day not just for armed forces, but for everyone in our country. what does this anniversary mean to you ? to you? >> it's so important for me completely right. and it's been ,

completely right. and it's been, really amazing coverage and ceremonies both in portsmouth yesterday and obviously in normandy today. >> and i think that commitment we've seen, obviously, the royal family , senior politicians, you family, senior politicians, you know, from the us to france, the uk and others there, really wanting to cherish and thank those few now , now veterans who those few now, now veterans who were on those beaches , 80 years were on those beaches, 80 years ago to say thank you to them and importantly and you hear it in all those speeches, to make sure that we remember not only their bravery and courage and indeed those of so many of those young men who lost their lives in that and so many other, of course, battles during that war. but why? it is as well we must remember, we must commemorate, but we must remember that they were fighting to free france from nazi germany, to stand up for democracy , for that freedom for democracy, for that freedom which we take for granted, which we are so fortunate to have. but we are so fortunate to have. but we must never take it for

granted, because freedom is not free. so many of those, now elderly veterans, mates died for that freedom. and we have to continue to ensure that we are prepared, resolved, and that we understand that we must always stand up for those values. of course, we're supporting the ukrainians at the moment who are doing exactly that, having been invaded by an aggressive , invaded by an aggressive, russian neighbour. these are battles which we don't ever want to have to fight, have to ask our young men and women to fight in. but we know and those veterans demonstrate so well that, we will for stand up that freedom when asked to do so. >> and do you believe we are doing enough to prepare for the eventuality of war? there have been so many warnings from former ministers, secretaries of state, also military chiefs of the fact that our armed forces are depleted. they're not where they once were. that the numbers

are dwindling and perhaps capabilities too. are we doing enough ? enough? >> well, i think we have, for a long time , following the, you long time, following the, you know, coming down of the berlin wall, there was a sense that , we wall, there was a sense that, we had all, you know, decided there was a peace dividend and that we could perhaps relax is too strong a word, but be assured that, these sorts of things weren't going to happen. but in the last few years, we have seen , obviously, putin demonstrating more and more , you know, more and more, you know, military muscle with crimea and some of those , ukrainian, some of those, ukrainian, regions and, pushing , if you regions and, pushing, if you like, pushing his luck going, come on, you know, do you do you not care? and we have, of course, now stood up alongside the ukrainians to support them. but i think we have got to be, sure that we are as prepared as we can be. and the prime minister obviously has made that 2.5% of gdp commitment now to help us to start to be even more resilient. i think we have some you know, we are world class, we

are the leading european nation in nato in terms of our commitments, both, through our, artillery, our air and our naval assets that we put to the use of nato as the nato family. but more widely, i'm a foreign office minister. i have spent a lot of my time looking at the indo—pacific, and there is a lot of coercive, difficult behaviour, being seen from china, dprk, north korea, our, extremely badly behaved , have extremely badly behaved, have nuclear weapons and are very, coercive in their behaviour. there is some really difficult, activity out there. and we have got to make sure that we as the uk and as a nato family, are as strong and ready as we might need to be, knowing that, of course, credible deterrence is the most effective way to reduce the most effective way to reduce the risk of war. >> many people will be heartened by this idea of 2.5% of gdp being spent on our armed forces, although people might be worried that this is another

politician's promise because back in 2022, the government of bofis back in 2022, the government of boris johnson committed to raise defence spending to 2.5% of gdp. that was then reneged on by his successor, only to then be recommitted to. how do we know that this time it's for good? >> well, all i can say is, i'm very pleased that, the prime minister has , put that down minister has, put that down marker and set out a very clear pathway for doing that. and indeed, we've set out how we would fund that through a number of sources. but when you saw when, obviously boris johnson made that claim, there was also a big investment, a large proportion of which went into our shipbuilding and our submarine programs, i always say this. i say this when i am travelling around the world, but one thing that no one in any war game has ever said is are had too many submarines. i didn't need them, so we have seen this really, very clear focus , to really, very clear focus, to support the royal navy's intention for both the next,

generation of our continuous at sea deterrent. the dreadnought and also, more widely in working with the australians and the americans through our aukus program. these are very, very powerful, statements of defence, of credibility, which we are working together as part of our five eyes family to ensure that the world understands that we will stand both alongside each other, but also those who don't have the capacity to defend in that way, to make sure running out of time. >> so i just want to get one supplementary there. you mentioned the five eyes family. what is the likelihood of two of those members of the five eyes family? new zealand and canada, which have not signed up to aukus and not sharing when it comes to this submarine program, might they join and why haven't they so far ? they so far? >> the submarine program is one part of aukus. aukus has two parts pillar one and pillar two. pillar one is about submarine australia building nuclear powered submarines, pillar two is going to have a wider, portfolio of work together. and

it's quite possible that if canada and new zealand in time wanted to bring, specialist areas of, military capability to bear that might be an area of defence. the, us president , defence. the, us president, mentioned a few weeks ago that we were looking to do some work, in a particular area with japan as part of aukus pillar two. this is all about working together as allies , friends who together as allies, friends who understand that we need to make sure that we have a balanced, defensive world to try and reduce the risk of england's position on china to close to let them in. >> and should we be worried about new zealand as a member of five eyes, given that they seem to have struck a different tone on china compared to australia? the united kingdom and the united states? >> so we all of us, china is a really important trading partner for all of us, of course. and in different ways, we have a strong and hopefully mostly good relationship with them. but some of the, coercive , military and of the, coercive, military and other activity that we've seen from them is difficult. and every country must set their

relationship. according to the experiences and the needs of their citizens . and we are all their citizens. and we are all doing that. but i think we all are all agreed that we need to be sure that we have between us and individually and together, strong, military family, which means that should anyone, want to do our citizens harm, we are able to stand up to them . able to stand up to them. >> well, anne—marie trevelyan, foreign office minister, former minister for the armed forces. really appreciate your time. thank you very much for joining us. >> us. >> thank you very much indeed, well , let's return to gold beach well, let's return to gold beach in normandy and speak to our reporter, sophie reaper, sophie, we caught up with you a little bit earlier. tell us exactly where you are now and what's what's happening . what's happening. >> well, the tide has gone out once again, so we've been able to return to the actual beach of gold beach . you can see the gold beach. you can see the channel here behind me. and now over the past few days, we have seen hundreds of military vehicles, hundreds of military

personnel and there's on the beach right now, there's a really rather special one that if we turn, we can have a look at in all of its glory. now, this is an active it's a working landing craft, which is a modern replica of ones that would have been used on d—day. so 80 years ago, the 25,000 brits that would have landed here on gold beach would have been transported on a craft just like this one. now we are able to venture up there. so we'll we'll, we'll head on up, taking this ramp very carefully, so we'll head on up if we can. now, there are quite a few people on board. if i could not fall over , there aren't quite fall over, there aren't quite a few people on board, so we'll have to be quite careful. but if i can get my cameraman to just give you a little tour of this craft, now, we actually spoke to one of the royal marine commandos who would work aboard this craft a little bit earlier, and he told me that as i say, it

is an adaptation of one that would have been used on gold beach, but this has got improved engines and a navigation suite, which i think we can see if we pan upwards. there you are now on this craft . it can carry on this craft. it can carry a challenger main battle tank, which weighs 72 tons as well as 120 commandos. and he was telling us about that. and in fact, he said that it's not exactly comfortable conditions when they're aboard here. of course, it can be quite cramped. he also talked to us about the kind of situations that this craft would be used in. he said that it can handle all kinds of environments. it can be used in places like norway , he said. places like norway, he said. they go to sometimes where it'll get to minus 30 to —40 degrees. it can also be used in extremely hot climates, so it gets all over the planet. he also told us that it can go up to a thousand miles before having to refuel , miles before having to refuel, so it is quite an impressive

piece of machinery. so it is quite an impressive piece of machinery . and it's piece of machinery. and it's really it's really quite poignant to be aboard a craft like this. and i'm sure the many people around me would agree with that. to be on this on d—day, on the 80th anniversary, to imagine what those troops would have been climbing aboard something similar to this travel the channel from portsmouth over across here, landing on gold beach, to fight for our freedom. >> sophie reaper , thank you so >> sophie reaper, thank you so much for bringing us that. what an immersive experience. an amazing experience to walk up on that landing craft, will be having much more after the break. of our d—day coverage here on gb news. stick

us. good afternoon and welcome to

d—day coverage special here on gb news yes. >> and with us in the studio is our royal correspondent , karen our royal correspondent, karen walker and military historian peter caddick . adams. now, at peter caddick. adams. now, at around 230, we will be seeing live pictures of prince , prince live pictures of prince, prince of wales, prince william, who will be there on the scene. we're now watching this live in normandy, a ceremony beginning here. >> let's talk to cameron walker about what we're actually seeing. because, cameron, this is the big event of commemoration . commemoration. >> yeah, i think this is the grand finale, as it were, of the d—day commemorations. so this afternoon, there is the international commemorative ceremony at omaha beach, where 25 more than 25 heads of states , 25 more than 25 heads of states, as well as veterans from around the world are going to be marking the anniversary of d—day. president joe biden and emmanuel macron of france are both going to be there , the king both going to be there, the king not going to be there. instead,

on his behalf, not going to be there. instead, on his behalf , the prince of on his behalf, the prince of wales will be representing him for the first time since the king's cancer diagnosis. it's understood that because of doctors advice, the king could not attend this particular engagement. >> we're looking at canadian veterans walking there, lots of veterans, not many veterans left from d—day itself. of course, those that are are revered rightly very, very specially, peter adams, military historian . peter adams, military historian. this is, a huge event. peter adams, military historian. this is, a huge event . and this is, a huge event. and perhaps the last time that we will see veterans of d—day at such an event , i will see veterans of d—day at such an event, i think you're absolutely right. we had the 75th five years ago, and we thought that would be the last one, and then all of a sudden , one, and then all of a sudden, everybody decided to make the 80th, a big thing , and i think 80th, a big thing, and i think that's important. and that's right, because it it's it gives us a sense of the veterans being able to hand over the torch of commemoration to another

generation , so we're setting generation, so we're setting ourselves up now for a time when there won't be any veterans, but there won't be any veterans, but the commemorations will carry on, in a way that's really happened with the first world war as well . so it doesn't stop war as well. so it doesn't stop the moment you you lose that generation, and the memories and the significance dies away. so the significance dies away. so the fact that schoolchildren are here and have been involved in commemorations around the country is just, you know, reinforcing for them how important this is. and in a wider sense, how important it is to for stand up freedom against tyranny, and therefore , there'll tyranny, and therefore, there'll be another generation who'll be doing this in another hundred years . years. >> cameron. we're expecting, of course, heads of state. and that, of course, means our royal family not only the royal family of the united kingdom, but of course , of the canadian course, of the canadian divisions who were also there on that day. >> yeah, there certainly will be. of course, the king is king of canada as well. before this

event took place, the prince of wales took part in the canadian commemorative ceremony at nearby juno beach. it was hosted by the government of canada. he delivered a speech where he talked about canada in the uk continuing to stand side by side. 80 years later, as well as the bravery and sacrifice specifically of canadian troops, making sure that they also are not forgotten. the royal family have been heavily involved in commemorations around the country and in normandy over the last few days. the duke and duchess of edinburgh are taking part in commemorations here in the united kingdom today, the princess royal has been spending time with chelsea pensioners as well in london and then, of course, saw the king and queen. this morning. but i think this shows that it's a huge inter national effort. and the royal family representing the united kingdom as part of this international effort, with 25 heads of state, of course, commemorating the allied victory of the d—day landings. >> absolutely . and we have some >> absolutely. and we have some key politicians in attendance ,

key politicians in attendance, not the prime minister, but he sent, lord david cameron, lord cameron, we've got grant shapps we've also got keir starmer and david lammy who will be in attendance. yes, both the shadows of the of the foreign office and the defence department, as well as those who are in post. >> i suppose it reminds us that we're in election season as well, but today is perhaps a moment to forget politics, and cameron , that's what the royals, cameron, that's what the royals, i suppose, are so, so useful, for want of a better word there for want of a better word there for in our constitutional makeup . yeah, absolutely. >> and i was at the portsmouth commemorations yesterday alongside sir keir starmer, the prime minister, the king, queen and prince of wales . and it was and prince of wales. and it was and prince of wales. and it was a day where you kind of forgot that the general election is going on, actually. and it was every everybody, regardless of their political rank or political party, was just focused on commemorating these veterans. and of course, the royal family is not political whatsoever. it's very diplomatic. that power of soft diplomacy, we see them on the world stage representing great britain, but it shows that you can come together despite your

differences, to honour a very worthy cause. >> now, peter , we are looking at >> now, peter, we are looking at the ceremony taking place on omaha beach. now, this was one of the american beaches that was landed there. of course, it is also nearby where there is perhaps the largest memorial and cemetery in this area. >> yes . i cemetery in this area. >> yes. i mean, omaha beach is five miles long. it's a it's a concave beach, which means that the germans could position gun emplacements at either end that would fire along the beach rather than out to sea. so they waited , and they held their fire waited, and they held their fire until the americans actually landed on the sand and then opened fire, which was one of the reasons why the americans suffered so high casualties and it's, most of omaha beach is finged it's, most of omaha beach is ringed by high cliffs, which is not the case on any of the other beaches, so put all of that together. and that gave the americans the worst of all possible, nightmare . and landing possible, nightmare. and landing on an opposed coast is the most

difficult of all military operations , because you are not operations, because you are not only battling with the germans in this case, but you're battling with weather and wind and tides. >> and it was delayed by a day because it could have been even worse if it were to take place on the 5th of june. yeah. >> i mean, the weather conditions are much marginal for the 6th of june, and any anyone who's been sailing or sailing across the channel in rough sea will know just how unpleasant that is, so force five four, six was what they sailed in which they really shouldn't have done, and, the day before it had been even worse . had we gone two even worse. had we gone two weeks later, when the weather would have come round again and was anticipated to be better. in fact, a storm came in a tempest came in from the atlantic. and what would have happened is the assault. we would have landed in normandy, the waves and the wind would have then whipped up this

horrible storm in the channel. they couldn't have been supported , the air cover supported, the air cover couldn't couldn't have flown , couldn't couldn't have flown, and the germans would have surrounded the assault wave and defeated them . so, you know, defeated them. so, you know, this is still you know, we now know d—day is was always going to be successful. we didn't know that at the time. and it is on a razor's edge. but not necessarily because of the germans. it's because of the natural forces over which we still have no control today. >> why did we go on the sixth and not wait those two weeks? if all those forecasts are saying it's going to be so much nicer, when in fact, as you say, it wouldn't have been, was that foresight? was that luck that was luck. >> and also the fact that the longer we leave it, the more the germans will work out that we're not going to go anywhere else. we're going possibly to land in normandy because they can hear our radio traffic, we can hear theirs, and the deception would start to fall apart. also d—day is a snapshot in time of the german defences being built. and every day they're pouring more

concrete in along the coast . and concrete in along the coast. and so another two weeks is another few gun emplacements that would make it more difficult to crack. and sooner or later you you'd have to think of somewhere else completely. so you can't keep delaying and keep delaying . delaying and keep delaying. >> and, tell us how much preparation went into this military operation. how long did it take to make such a decision that would have such a momentous impact on the shape of the war and the trajectory? >> that's a very good question, because everybody just sort of thinks about, you know, june 1944, and if you watch the movies saving private ryan, particularly, you just think of throwing trained soldiers in a boat and landing on an enemy shore. the training for d—day probably started, i mean, in my view, starts really with the evacuation from dunkirk, which is exactly four years earlier , is exactly four years earlier, and we realised straight away that we need specialised seaborne craft, if we'd had landing craft at dunkirk, it

would have been a completely different story , but the, the, different story, but the, the, the real, intellectual hard work starts about two years before d—day in 1942, we have a failed raid against dieppe in august 1942, where we learn that we need far more warships. we need lots and lots of specialised landing craft, it starts to go right for us that autumn, in november 1942, where we start to understand the assembling of large numbers of ships and landing craft. it goes very well. the following year, in the invasion of sicily , then the invasion of sicily, then the invasion of sicily, then the invasion of sicily, then the invasion of southern italy at salerno , and then a landing in salerno, and then a landing in in january 1944 near rome at a place called anzio, so all of these we are learning iteratively each and every time. but so it's it but it's a learning curve . so some british

learning curve. so some british units come back from dunkirk and they simply don't do anything until d—day. they spend four years preparing for d—day. and i met a platoon commander who landed on sword beach at h—hour. so he was in the assault wave on one of the british beaches, he'd he'd spent four years preparing for the invasion. wherever and whenever it would happen. and his war lasted about four hours before he was severely wounded that afternoon . that afternoon. >> and what some of these young men will have witnessed that day, what they will have seen will be etched on their memory. those who survived and lived to this day, you can tell whenever you speak to someone, whenever you speak to someone, whenever you speak to a veteran , just the you speak to a veteran, just the enormity of what they saw, gruesome, horrifying , and they gruesome, horrifying, and they live on with those memories. >> i think it's also the fact that when they landed, they realised they were making history, there are so many things that we all do, never

mind being in the forces that you really don't know whether they're going to be significant or not. but if you were taking part on, on anything to do with the invasion of normandy, that morning 80 years ago, you would have realised that this was of world, changing impact. and i always think that the, you know, the day of most consequence in the day of most consequence in the 20th century was probably the 20th century was probably the 6th of june, 1944. i mean, it heralded the end of the second world war. but i also believe that it was the beginning of nato. but it was, you know, it was the defeat of tyranny, of authoritarian, nazi germany and all the rest of it. >> and you're so right to mention nato here, because this was truly a transatlantic effort , although it was under the supreme allied command of an american, not of a brit. it was eisenhower who was commanding the free forces in europe . why the free forces in europe. why did that job go to eisenhower rather than general montgomery?

>> well, churchill actually promised it to his chief of the imperial general staff, who was a man called field—marshal alan brooke, lord alan brooke. >> he became, which i think is the best way if you're going to be an ennobled and lose your first name, why not just amalgamate your first and second name and go from being alan brooke to being lord alan brooke as he did, which is what he did. >> so he he was, he was monty's, sort of pupil, and you couldn't tell montgomery what to do. and the only person who monty ever listened to was was alan brooke. but churchill had promised brooke the overlordship of the invasion, and what happened was when it became apparent that more american troops would be involved in the subsequent fighting all the way through normandy than british or canadians. therefore, they would be taking more casualties. you then have to concede , the sort then have to concede, the sort of supreme command to the americans . but there was a deal americans. but there was a deal done, i think, behind the scenes

. so britain retained that overall control of the mediterranean theatre, battling against the germans in italy, which was a very important campaign, still ongoing at this stage, so we had field marshal alexander there doing the same job that eisenhower was doing, in northwest europe. so we looked after the, the mediterranean theatre with lots of americans serving underneath us, whereas we it was almost a trade. so the americans had, this particular battle, but it was always going to be, you know , with the americans to the fore . but let's not forget, i mean, yesterday, 80 years ago, the world wasn't looking at normandy a because they didn't know what was going to happen. they were celebrating the capture of rome, which had just happened the day before, and that took everybody's eyes off the ball. but it just also underlines how this is a world war that's going

on. >> we should say we're looking at president macron. they're just arriving with his official delegation , one of over 25 heads delegation, one of over 25 heads of state who are arriving for this really quite remarkable commemoration, 80 years since operation overlord, 80 years since the d—day landings. >> yes. there he is. and he, with his prime minister, he gave a speech earlier in french, of course, and, president biden shortly followed him. >> yes. there was a joint, franco—american service . of franco—american service. of course, there have been many services across the entire normandy coastline over the preceding day. and the day before, really two days of commemorative events. but this is perhaps the culmination because, peter, this this is perhaps the pivotal moment in establishing not just the end of the second world war, but the establishment of what came after it, how we live our lives today.

the institute towns that govern us. us. >> us. >> yes, of course, france had gone through a very traumatic war and been defeated in 1940. but france before then had been a superpower . so the french a superpower. so the french defeat in 1940 would be like america being defeated today, and that notion of sort of superpowers operating independent of allies was completely shattered in the second world war. and so when america sort of comes to the fore, it's really first amongst equals, america cannot behave and cannot is not powerful enough on her own in the way that france had assumed she was in 1940, hence the coalition approach to international military operations and international diplomacy and the establishment of the united nations. >> we sort it all out. this idea of a balance of powers, which is how britain so skilfully , i how britain so skilfully, i suppose, governed the era of pax

britannica and where, where we sort of almost left this balance within europe. so all these great powers would counteract each other that that was blown apart by the second world war. >> yeah. i mean, i used to be the historian for nato in the bosnia operation . so i saw this bosnia operation. so i saw this coalition, you know, at first hand, working very well. and of course, our our new young partners who are adjacent to the, the old soviet union, to russia, are particularly keen and enthusiastic. i mean, the poles are absolutely brilliant, and they are the, you know, the rising military power and economic power that we need to keep our eye on over the next ten years. >> i should say we're looking at gabriel attal, the french prime minister. many tip him to be the next president of france. president macron, of course, term limited , to two term limited, to two presidential terms . his, presidential terms. his, appointed successor in the eyes of many gabriel attal there. but

of many gabriel attal there. but of course , this is a this is a of course, this is a this is a ceremony that will be attended, not just by the french and the british and the americans and the canadians, but 25, countries represented . cameron walker, our represented. cameron walker, our royal correspondent, remains with us. and cameron , tell us a with us. and cameron, tell us a bit more about the multitude of countries here. >> yeah, absolutely. and you just saw pictures and we still see pictures of prime minister atal, who accompanied the prince of wales, actually, to the canadian commemorative ceremony ceremony at juno beach earlier today. ceremony at juno beach earlier today . but this ceremony at juno beach earlier today. but this is huge ceremony at juno beach earlier today . but this is huge because today. but this is huge because we have 25 heads of states from around the world and veterans from around the world who took part and fought on d—day and the subsequent battle excuse me afterwards. and commemorating those who we lost. and peter spoke of the kind of deception that was going on to try and trick the nazis into thinking that normandy was not the place that normandy was not the place that they were going to land. the royal family actually played quite a bit of a part in that. king george vi was sent to the south—east of england to try and

trick the nazis into thinking that calais was going to be the place where they were going to land , visiting troops there. he land, visiting troops there. he was also sent to the orkney islands, trying to trick the germans into thinking that scandinavia and norway was going to be the place that the invasion was going to take place. so the royal family played a little bit of gave a little bit of help to the british army in deceiving the germans on that. >> peter. the germans stationed troops up in norway right through to the end of the war. was that all down to british deception ? deception? >> yeah. i mean, the german defences are called the atlantic wall and we concentrate on normandy because that's the place we invaded, but they, they defend all the way across the riviera, southern france, all the way up the atlantic seaboard, all the way along normandy , brittany, all along normandy, brittany, all along into holland and belgium, denmark and then up into norway. and you think of the amount of troops that that hoovers up. and that's the idea that will stop them from deploying their troops

to normandy. >> this is one of the most spectacular events i think i've ever seen. >> isn't it spectacular? from the music to the of course, the people who are attending . people who are attending. >> well, we say we do pomp and pageantry very well, but of course this is the french, these are these are french , military are these are french, military figures. here you can see the traditional military dress. well, this is a napoleonic. >> i mean, this is 200 years old, we tip our hats, our bearskins. i'm allowed to call to these guys to as well, yes. >> we were seeing the french president give, legion d'honneur out to , veterans of d—day. president give, legion d'honneur out to , veterans of d—day . and, out to, veterans of d—day. and, of course, that was actually an award. the highest military and civilian award that a french president can give that was first established in 1802 by napoleon . so there's an awful napoleon. so there's an awful lot of tradition that's going on today that and it's a modern

reiteration was was mitterrand in, i think, 91, who said , i'll in, i think, 91, who said, i'll give the legion d'honneur to every first world war soldier. >> shapps has arrived. a defence secretary. there he is greeting the french president and his wife or english. >> actually, macron speaks perfect english. >> he does, he does. although he does so rarely. one of the only times we've seen him do so was when the queen died. and cameron, that was a very, very moving speech that he gave. >> it was he gave a speech to the british people. following the british people. following the death of queen elizabeth ii in september 2022. and as you said, it is incredibly rare for a french politician to speak in english. and he directly addressed the british people wearing a black suit, a black tie, empathising with us and sympathising with us, that we had lost our monarch who reigned over for us 70 years. there is a very. and also since then there's been a very strong relationship, i think, between president macron and king charles ii. it was a very successful state visit where the king and queen went to france

last year. he became the first british monarch to address to address french lawmakers from withinside, the senate. and we also saw president macron with the king and queen this morning at the royal british legion's commemorative event at the british normandy memorial, because , of course, d—day because, of course, d—day started by well with an aim to liberate france first. beyer was the first major city to be liberated. so it's kind of a thanks of the allied troops. >> we should say. we are expecting also to see nord cameron, david cameron, former prime minister, now foreign secretary and also the leader of the opposition, keir starmer will also be in attendance, with david lammy too. >> remarkable to see grant shapps there. the first foreign dignitary welcomed by the french president. standing there at the front of course, symbolic and many people, if they're looking at the opinion polls , might at the opinion polls, might think that perhaps this is the last major state event that , last major state event that, grant shapps will be appearing

at, at least for some time. but peter caddick—adams, this is , of peter caddick—adams, this is, of course, such a powerful event because it brings together so many different countries. and we were talking a little bit earlier about some of the free brigades, divisions, whatever you want to call them, from countries that were occupied but still supplied, both troops, but also military hardware. >> yeah. i mean, an awful lot of poles managed to escape from their homeland and ended up training in the united kingdom, so it was a polish whole polish division of over 20,000 who landed in normandy and fought their way through . and after the their way through. and after the war, of course, they were all living here as well, nearly 200,000 of them. and you got the free poles , who were living in free poles, who were living in exile here all the way through the cold war and the soviet poles who went back to, to warsaw. so a microcosm of european history. but it wasn't

just poles . i mean, the, the, just poles. i mean, the, the, the coalition of what we then called the united nations, nothing to do with today's united nations , included united nations, included norwegians and danes and the dutch and the belgians, a few luxembourgers do we have here leave. >> that is a think that might be the belgian prime minister. but don't quote me on that. i won't, unless unless well, we'll see if we. we'll see if we can get these. these drawn up for us. but of course, this is an international event that we'll be seeing so many different people arrive. and a moment also for emmanuel macron. let's not forget that there are european union elections taking place over the next 2 or 3 days. so, so really a political and a state occasion . but, peter, to state occasion. but, peter, to return to the military side of all of this, you mentioned the polls that took part. there were

also greeks who played a pretty key role , we had there were key role, we had there were a few greek ships offshore, and the idea was to make this as wide a coalition as possible, which is why you've got greek and norwegian and polish ships offshore, as well as french and canadian and british and american, with so signifying a coalition of all those nations that were under occupation and then fighting the ground troops fighting through. and the air force is flying overhead and, include even a sort of wider array of nations. >> now, while we're watching this, we can go to our gb news presenter , ella costello, who is presenter, ella costello, who is back at gold beach. and she's, she's been speaking to a veteran. elli, are you there ? veteran. elli, are you there? >> i am emily and tom. really good to hear your voices over those really moving pictures

that you are describing now. and i've just had the huge privilege and honour of interviewing a d—day veteran. i'm hoping that you'll be able to see the full version of that interview with martin daubney, that i know he will be very passionate to , to will be very passionate to, to want to share with the gb news audience. after 3:00. but his name was henry rice. he's 98 years old. he stormed , juno years old. he stormed, juno beach to help support the canadians . beach to help support the canadians. seven days beach to help support the canadians . seven days after canadians. seven days after d—day . and it's really d—day. and it's really fascinating and really moving to talk to henry rice, because he has very complicated , i'm sure has very complicated, i'm sure many veterans do about returning to normandy, he says. it's great to normandy, he says. it's great to see the lads, as he describes them, to be amongst his friends and his comrades. but he says if he thinks too much about the boys that never made it home, he gets very overwhelmed. he has to

take himself away and he says thatis take himself away and he says that is a very, very , very that is a very, very, very difficult thing for him to process. and it was so remarkable to hear him speak so candidly about that complexity of emotion that he feels in normandy. i think there is something about seeing the sand and seeing the water here that really does bring it all back. the horror of those days and what they must have seen on these beaches that didn't look as beautiful and as pristine as they do today . they were covered they do today. they were covered in mines and german obstacles and bombs and bodies. and for these veterans, seeing this sand and seeing this water, it does all of those horrific memories. he also said, henry rice, speaking to him just now, he said that he feels embarrassed because he was in the follow up troops. he wasn't d—day, he was d—day plus seven. he came to support the canadian troops. the

commonwealth troops that were fighting on juno beach. and he says he feels embarrassed when he sits alongside the men that were there on d—day. and i said to him, we don't see it like that. to him, we don't see it like that . we see you all as heroes that. we see you all as heroes equally . you are all part of equally. you are all part of that puzzle. you are all part of making us successful here in france , liberating france and france, liberating france and later western europe, and later winning the second world war. and he was thankful for that. he said that he is now in time learnt to accept it, but it's it was such a candid interview where he talked about his struggles with feeling embarrassed, sitting next to those d—day veterans . so it was those d—day veterans. so it was a very emotional chat with henry rice , and i really hope you can rice, and i really hope you can watch it a little bit later on in the day on gb news as well. >> ellie, thank you so much for joining us. and also for doing all the work you're doing, speaking to so many veterans who have made the trip to normandy on what is such a momentous occasion , let's talk to peter

occasion, let's talk to peter caddick—adams with us in the studio . military historian, of studio. military historian, of course, because there is so much history in what we are talking about today , and it is through about today, and it is through history that we learn for the future. >> i'm really pleased that so many schoolchildren up and down the country are being involved in this . i mean, we have in this. i mean, we have a tradition of not teaching history, particularly . well, and history, particularly. well, and that sort of feeds into the whole debate of if the country is in a crisis again, will people step up? >> why is that? >> why is that? >> that we don't teach history very well in this country. >> so many other things are sort of creeping into the curriculum. but i suppose what we can say is that when history is taught, it's often taught badly, and it's often taught badly, and it's things like this that really trigger the imagination of younger minds sitting in a classroom just listening to dates or, re—enacting sort of, firing a cannon on hms victory.

it is not quite the same as meeting a veteran or , you know, meeting a veteran or, you know, being involved in, in something to do with, with d—day, as we've seen over the last sort of 24 hours, i belong to the airfix generation . and so i was forever generation. and so i was forever building little kits , and i building little kits, and i think people were around the country will identify with that, i remember doing some airfix as i remember doing some airfix as i grew up. >> well, i can imagine. >> well, i can imagine. >> yeah. so they , it's things >> yeah. so they, it's things like that why everybody's first plane. i think everybody's first kit was a spitfire , although kit was a spitfire, although obviously not the most common military aircraft because much more developed and expensive than , than some of the others . than, than some of the others. well, not as a plastic model, not as a plastic. >> no. i mean, for the raf in the, in the 1940s, perhaps the most idealised aircraft, but we saw many more hurricanes . saw many more hurricanes. >> yeah, absolutely, and the hurricane is, is the end of

plywood and balsa and canvas aircraft. and it's essentially a biplane with the top wing taken off, whereas spitfire is a completely new invention. it's all metal, it's a it's a monoplane. so it doesn't have that sort of second set of wings, so everything about it is brand new and revolutionary. >> it is astonishing how much how fast technology shifts dunng how fast technology shifts during the second world war. i was reading just the other day that the b—52 bomber developed by the americans . they spent by the americans. they spent more money developing that aeroplane than they did on the manhattan project, on developing the atomic weapon. it's just an astonishing level of sort of developing a pressurised cabin, being able to , for the first being able to, for the first time, fly above the weather and to carry a heavy payload to you start to see sort of how the country really develops so much faster. we're looking at the former belgium prime minister of a photo shoot at the moment,

charles michel. of course , an eu charles michel. of course, an eu politician there. but, but yes . politician there. but, but yes. no.the politician there. but, but yes. no. the technological development that the war perhaps, i suppose sped up . perhaps, i suppose sped up. >> well, let's link this in to 1944 and, and the rocket that we've just seen take off, of course, rocket technology comes out of the second world war, in the v—2 rocket , the first of the v—2 rocket, the first of which was launched at the invading forces by the germans invading forces by the germans in the first v—2 was on the 7th of september, the first v—1 flying bomb was launched at the invasion or as a result of the invasion or as a result of the invasion , in in in june. but by invasion, in in in june. but by an angry hitler, so, you know , an angry hitler, so, you know, thatis an angry hitler, so, you know, that is the birth of so much of this modern technology . this modern technology. >> and, cameron walker with us to hear our royal correspondent tell us, where is prince william? >> well, he should be arriving any moment now. i did spot the, king frederick of denmark turn

up there. he greeted president macron of france. he did not have queen mary with him. i believe we've had a smattering of other , european royalty as of other, european royalty as well . i think of other, european royalty as well. i think i saw, the of other, european royalty as well . i think i saw, the prince well. i think i saw, the prince of liechtenstein as well, but i'm not i can't be 100% because it's quite a wide angle camera shot. but prince william is representing his majesty the king here. the king due to his, cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment . it's understood that treatment. it's understood that on doctor's advice, it was thought that it's not, perhaps right for the king to carry out too many engagements today. and, of course, what he did in portsmouth yesterday. so this is the first time we're going to see prince william officially represent his father as head of state at an event post—cancer diagnosis, prime minister mark rutte of the netherlands outgoing prime minister of the netherlands. >> there, mark greta, the longest serving prime minister of the netherlands. but of course, after the most recent election, he will be leaving the

post very shortly as the new coalition government goes in in that country. but, mark, greta has been a mainstay of european politics for a very, very long time. some say he was tipping himself for the job at nato. >> the french president appears to be. yes, with his wife there taking photos with everyone who arrives on the. why isn't the king on the carpet there? >> why isn't the dutch king there rather than a that's an interesting question. >> a politician that i would suppose that there will be both royals and politicians from the netherlands, because that's, after all, what we're seeing from the united kingdom. >> cameron, we are, but we're not expecting prime minister rishi sunak at this particular event. this is meant to be just for heads of state. so it is an interesting point as to why we haven't seen the dutch king here as of yet. he may well be coming. we have not had that, confirmed. this is for heads of state, i suppose. and president macron of france as as the kind of host country, as it were, clearly wanting to get in on the action. >> well, there will be plenty

more to come. we'll have continued coverage of this event with martin daubney coming up. that's

>> june 5th, 1944. the evil , >> june 5th, 1944. the evil, pitiless third reich was devastating the world. nazi germany had subjugated the once free nations of europe through brute force . brute force. >> how fortunate we were . and >> how fortunate we were. and the entire free world that a generation of men and women