Lifestyle | Travel A lifetime away from the landings that led to the liberation of Europe, June 6 is still a big deal in Normandy . Even in a year not marking a decade on from the extraordinary achievements of what Churchill called “an army of heroes” D-Day is commemorated with events across the key beaches and battlefields. For a few weeks every summer the US, British and Canadian flags flutter from houses, bars and hotels in dozens of Norman towns and villages.
But this year, the 80th anniversary, really matters. Yet another ten years have rolled by since thousands of young men risked their lives in the epic quest to rid the European continent of the Nazi scourge. But poignantly only a tiny handful of those veterans who survived the Battle of Normandy are still alive — in their late Nineties or more — to make one last pilgrimage back to where so many of their comrades fell.
They will not be around when the 90th anniversary comes by in 2034. For a few days the attention of the world will be on this green corner of northern France so often overlooked by British tourists rolling off the ferries at Cherbourg, Caen and St Malo before pelting south on the autoroutes to the Dordogne or the Mediterranean, or west to Brittany. Presidents Biden and Macron and hopefully King Charles — although this has not yet been confirmed — will lead the commemorations at key sites.
The centrepiece of the British remembrance will take place on June 6 at the moving cliff-top British Norm.