indeed the whole free world, that i say to you all, thank you.

hello and welcome to a bbc news special. over the next half—hour, we'll be taking a look back at the events marking the 75th anniversary of the d—day landings, the history's largest combined land, air and naval operation. we will be looking back on an extraordinary day of respect for those who served, many of whom never came back, and those who did survive

and have had the opportunity to have their courage and bravery and acknowledged on this day. we'll also bring you coverage of the departure of mv boudicca, a special ship chartered by the british legion that will set sail from portsmouth in the next few minutes, taking 300 veterans to normandy. they are retracing the journey they undertook 75 years ago, imagine what the emotions will be like. we will hear from those on board, our correspondent robert hall is among them, and we will also mark some of them, and we will also mark some of the highlights of the evening as they take place. firstly, let's look at some of the highlights of the day. all the uk's armed forces came together for a spectacular display, watched on by 16 world leaders and the queen, who quoted a broadcast by king george vi at the time of the operation in world war ii.

75 years ago, hundreds of thousands of young soldiers, sailors and airmen left these shores in the cause of freedom. in a broadcast to the nation at that time, my father, king george vi, said, what is demanded from us all is something more than courage and endurance — we need a revival of spirit, a new, and comparable resolve. that is exactly what those brave men brought to the battle as the fate of the world depended on their success. many of them would never return, and the heroism, courage and sacrifice of those who lost their lives will never be forgotten. it is with

humility and pleasure, on behalf of the entire country, indeed the whole free world, that i say to you all, thank you. the queen thanking the hundreds of thousands of people involved in d—day. in the air, around 280 paratroopers were dropped into normandy in world war ii—style uniforms, including 130 uk troops from 16 air assault brigade. one 97—year—old d—day veteran also took part, as they recreated the arrival of allied forces. the red arrows were part of a fly—past, beginning in cambridgeshire before travelling all the way to france. that included a spitfire, and they we re that included a spitfire, and they were accompanied by the dakotas that we re were accompanied by the dakotas that were involved in the landings. hundreds of pa ratroopers

were involved in the landings. hundreds of paratroopers have been involved in recreating thejumps, including that british veteran of 94. back on land, the atmosphere of world war ii was recreated through songs and dance. there was also an hour—long production to tell the story of the invasion, and amidst it all, the vetera ns invasion, and amidst it all, the veterans themselves with the moving accou nts veterans themselves with the moving a ccou nts of veterans themselves with the moving accounts of that day. i was, what? just over 17 on that day, but we were in trouble, and like every other service, we were just doing ourjob. there was a lot of gunfire, and of course, sadly, you know, for the first time in our lives, they were dead bodies all over the place. which was a sad sight, you know, a shocking side to us, i suppose. it is right that they courage and sacrifice of so many is being honoured 75 years on. we must

never forget. thank you. applause joining me this evening is admiral lord west, former first sea lord and chief of naval staff. provides a warm welcome to you, i look forward to having a chat in a moment. we will be watching as mv boudicca prepares to set sail from portsmouth, bound for normandy with nearly 300 veterans on board, it is a commercial ship which has been hired especially for this, it is usually a cruise ship, giving them a bit more comfort than they would have enjoyed on d—day. they will be waived off by the prime minister and the defence secretary, penny mordaunt, and watching too will be my colleague christian fraser, and it must be quite an atmosphere there this morning. it really is, quite a treat to watch these old boys

getting ready to sail back to normandy, telling me there was 300 vetera ns, normandy, telling me there was 300 veterans, may be a third of them have never been back to normandy since the war, and i think many of them will be lost within their own thoughts this evening as they cross the channel back to normandy, just to think what would have been here 75 years ago, all these ships, 7000 ships as the armada set off from the coast, and although we are hearing the band at the moment, and there is a party atmosphere on board, many of them here with their families, i am told that as they cross from the solent out into the channel, there will be just solent out into the channel, there will bejust a solent out into the channel, there will be just a half hour when they are will be just a half hour when they a re left will be just a half hour when they are left alone, they will turn off the music, there will be silent reflection on board, and presumably they will think back on what they we re they will think back on what they were doing 75 years ago. but it will be quite an extraordinary experience for them as they go out through the solent into the channel, passing hms queen elizabeth, the biggest warship

the navy has ever built, almost as big as the palace of westminster, there will be a royal marine band on board playing a tribute, the prime minister, the defence secretary, penny mordaunt, also the first sea lord will be on board, and also an honour guard on the decks to wave them off, and there will be an escort by a type 23 frigate, hms st albans which will escort by a type 23 frigate, hms st alba ns which will take escort by a type 23 frigate, hms st albans which will take them out to the channel, and standing in the channel, or moored in the channel will be eight naval vessels. it is about the highest tribute the navy could offer these veterans as they move out towards the isle of wight, and above them a loan spitfire from the battle of britain memorial flight, which will circle above them, three times, as they head out into the open sea. and of course they are heading, they are about to pull away from the dock, so that they go, we should give them a wave. and they are waving back, there you

go! so as they go... horn blows they are being pulled out into the channel, and there will be a canadian frigate, hms st albans waiting for them, it will take about ten minutes as they go out to the deep channel of the solent, and on board, i should say we are talking about men who are in the 90s, there isa about men who are in the 90s, there is a very big care operation on board, who will look after them, nurses and doctors and the like, and it is part of a week—long cruise. imean, it is part of a week—long cruise. i mean, they have already had quite an experience this week, they have been to dunkirk, they were in dunkirk on monday, i believe rod stewart was on board, singing sailing to them, and at one point in the week... horn blows play michael gunner

tributes being paid by the ships that are moored, all the ships standing to as boudicca pulls out of the port. so, of course, tomorrow they will be in le havre, they are going to the bayeux commemoration, at the cemetery, and, as i say, many of those men will not have seen that graveyard , those men will not have seen that graveyard, they have not been back, many of them, since, so it will be an emotional moment for them. and then on sunday, when they have been to the commemoration tomorrow, they will come back to dover, because not all of these veterans left from portsmouth, they left from other ports along the dorset and hampshire coast, and some of them did depart

from dover. so there they go, boudicca just pulling out into the solent, and we should soon get some of the top shots as it is escorted out into the channel, shaun more from christian later, hms st albans as part of a flotilla that will be accompanying boudicca as it begins his journey out towards the coast of normandy, and we will be watching that through the course of the evening. we will also be watching for the various other commemorations, including a silent vigil and march past that will take place at the location of pegasus bridge, one of the first bits of territory to be reclaimed against the nazi occupation. let's talk now to admiral lord west, former first sea lord, a great pleasure to have you, you should explain what you are wearing, because there was a time you couldn't go into this building

without a win, and tail coat, but those days have passed, ifeel underdressed! i am a member of trinity house, i have been caught between various things and i haven't had time to change. will come at you look splendid, it is a commemoration of respect for all the other naval vetera ns. of respect for all the other naval veterans. when you started as a young man in the navy back in the 19605, young man in the navy back in the 1960s, this was recent history, presumably people who had served. absolutely right, a lot of the senior officers had served through the second world war, this wasn't ancient history, this was something that i just happened, ancient history, this was something that ijust happened, really, it was only 20 years after the end of the war, soa only 20 years after the end of the war, so a lot of the people had served in the war, knew about the war, and the navy was much larger in those days, so yes, not something that one was looking at historically, in the way we do today. and in terms of the collective memory of the royal navy, how important are these events? we associate d—day, dunkirk with little

ships, and d—day, almost like a making upfor ships, and d—day, almost like a making up for the tragedy of the dunkirk evacuation, going back, something that the navy was keyed to, but does it matter in the collective history of the navy now? it absolutely does, and we are a maritime nation. you mention dunkirk, i was at an event on tuesday relating to dunkirk, i hadn't caught up with d—day by then, 330,000 troops were taken off from dunkirk, and another 150,000 from other ports on the french coast, and without that we wouldn't have had a corps to go back again on d—day. then the nation had to survive the battle of the atlantic, and then the actual d—day operation, operation neptune, the maritime side of it, was immense and incredibly complex, over 7000 ships and craft, an inconceivable number, looking at portsmouth harbour, you know, that was packed with ships, as was

southampton, poole, dartmouth, americans were down in dartmouth and plymouth, and up towards folkestone, dover, you know, there were ships everywhere, and to organise that, to lay voyage across the channel, midget submarines down from the beaches shining lights to show where they would arrive, fast motor boats we re they would arrive, fast motor boats were getting on the day before, so they could spot for naval gunfire. coordinating that, tugs from all over britain to tow the mulberry harbour is, the ocean, the traffic control of these thousands of ships going backwards and forwards, maybe 150,000 men going ashore, this was a major maritime undertaking, and any maritime sense, something we are hugely proud of, and of those 7000 ships, more than 5500 were british, no way we could do anything like that today, quite remarkable. you point to one of the forgotten

elements, and inevitably it is hard to capture it, because it is not on the film, perhaps we have concentrated, understandably, only memories of those who fought on the beaches, the tremendous suffering they went through, the tremendous and sacrifice, but actually the logistical operation, none of that would have been possible without phenomenal planning. bertrand ramsey, the admiral who did it, he was a brilliant man, the planning was a brilliant man, the planning was incredible, and today, when i go ona was incredible, and today, when i go on a visit somewhere, when i was a minister and on a visit somewhere, when i was a ministerand admirable, on a visit somewhere, when i was a minister and admirable, all my aides using mobiles, in 1945 we landed 150,000 men without a single mobile phone! of course, we did it through immaculate planning and timing, knowing exactly what would happen. is that why it took so long to get everything in place? the preparations for this go back months and months, don't they, even before and months, don't they, even before a date had been decided. there was

co nsta nt a date had been decided. there was constant pressure from russia, from the soviet union, for us to open a second front. to relieve them. yes, but it was impractical, it would have been impossible in 1942, because we didn't have all the shipping, the landing craft, we didn't have enough american troops in the uk, we needed about! million american troops in the uk. all this had to be built up, we hadn't actually defeated the submarines until the middle of 1943, so we couldn't do that build up, so we did landings in north africa instead, the invasion of italy, but we really needed to invade mainland europe across the channel, and it wasn't really until 1944 that we had all these things in place to be able to do that. and it is fair to talk of d—day as the turning point in europe. the opening of the second front, once d—day had succeeded, once we had that very hard fighting, immensely brave people ashore, very ha rd immensely brave people ashore, very hard fighting, getting out of normandy, that marked the end once

oui’ normandy, that marked the end once our forces were moving normandy, that marked the end once ourforces were moving into france, yes, the russians were ripping the guts out of the german army, but the fa ct guts out of the german army, but the fact that it was coming from both sides marked the end. seeing boudicca as she sails out through portsmouth harbour, along the solent, a lovely ship, a cruise ship that people pay a lot of money to travel on, very different from the conditions in which the young soldiers and sailors... and the weather is very much better, nearly all the people in the small crafts we re all the people in the small crafts were seasick a very unpleasant, some of them were jolly glad to get ashore, even though it was terrifying. they were all primed and ready to go, then eisenhower had to hold it. forecasting us win, it was stopped, and any met office said, there there is a window, and that was an immensely important decision, and the fact we went in that window confused the germans. they had not expected us to come at that stage, with the weather as it was, and we

managed to get everyone ashore via the mulberry before the big storm, which devastated the mulberry harbour. let's talk about the ceremonial, because it is important in the navy in terms of doing things ina in the navy in terms of doing things in a particular way. how are events of this kind commemorated? how important are they? what kind of effort goes into planning the commemoration of something like this? you would a first sea lord for a long time, you must have been very conscious of this. ceremonial is hugely important, when i was first sea lord, we had the bicentenary of trafalgar, which was very important. explain to people in the military why it is so important, civilians might dismiss it as pantomime, showing off. it is to do with heritage, it is to do with the feeling of belonging, and it is a continuum, a continuing thing, and the pictures of the ship at the moment, steaming past, coming up to the powers of the qa, sailing ——

sailing past the bows of the qe, it will be packed with people, and it is very special, and having the right ceremony to go with it, when you have good ceremonial, you know that to do that, you have to have good, efficient, disciplined people who think things through. some countries, i'm afraid, the ceremonies are rubbish, and if you fight them, they are rubbish! so there is a linkage, and that is why it is so important, and i do not know if they are seeing the picture of the vessel going past, it shows the huge size of the queen elizabeth, a marvellous addition to oui’ elizabeth, a marvellous addition to our fleet, and the americans are really, really pleased. they are desperate for us to get our two carriers operating, because they are squeezed on carrier groups, and they see them as very important for global stability. you mentioned queen elizabeth as boudicca glides

past, and on—board queen elizabeth is the defence secretary, penny mordaunt, and prime minister theresa may, and earlier theresa may had the opportunity to read out a letter written by one of those he was preparing to go off and fight, let's hear that letter again, because it isa hear that letter again, because it is a reminder of some of the emotions as far as they were able to express them. my darling, this is a very difficult letter for me to write. as you know, something may happen at any moment, and i cannot tell when you will receive this. i had hoped to be able to see you during last weekend, but it was impossible to get away, and all the things i intended to say must be written. i am sure that anyone with imagination must dislike the thought of