The Voyage of the Veterans on the 75th Anniversary of the D Day Landings
Regular readers of Syston Town News may remember the article in the June issue about local 93 year old ex-serviceman Dennis North’s planned trip to commemorate the Anniversary of the D Day Landings Although this anniversary received great coverage in the media, this is a report of how Dennis’s trip went, told from a personal point of view. Dennis was born and bred in Syston and still lives here. The trip was organized by the Royal British Legion.
On 2nd June Dennis and his son Douglas (his companion and carer), started their adventure at St Margaret’s bus station, where they joined a coach which was heading for Dover. The coach had already picked up veterans and their carers at Newarke and Nottingham. It then journeyed South picking up more old soldiers along the way, arriving at Dover in the late afternoon. Here they joined many other coach loads of veterans from all over the country, and were greeted by armed forces personnel who formed a ceremonial entrance as they boarded the Olsen line’s ship Boudicca. Then, after unpacking, they dined on board before cruising across the Channel overnight and arriving at Dunkirk where they visited some of the military grave sites the next day.
After this, they sailed back overnight to England, this time to Poole in Dorset, where they were escorted into the harbour by three boats manned by royal marines. Later in the day they were treated to an impressive military display by the marines. They spent the night of 4th June on board ship, before being taken by coach early on 5th June to Southsea Common for one of the big days of the trip. This event had international television coverage, and many readers will have seen at least some of this event on the television. ‘All the big wigs were there!’ Dennis told me. By this he meant Her Majesty the Queen, President Donald Trump and his wife Melania, the French and German presidents, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, along with many others.
At this point Dennis and Douglas were joined by Douglas’s wife Helen and their daughter Emma, which was a great bonus for Dennis. The family were able to enjoy together the speeches, music, other entertainment and the Red Arrows fly-past which Dennis reported as being very impressive. After this they were escorted into a large marquee for refreshments. Here Dennis came across three naval officers, whom he saluted smartly. ‘You’ve not forgotten then!’ joked one of the officers!
Later they went back to Portsmouth to their ship in readiness for their journey back across the channel for the anniversary of D Day itself on 6th June They were escorted from the port by a British frigate and a Canadian warship, and Britian’s new aircraft carrier the Queen Elizabeth. As they passed the warship, all the crew were lined up standing to attention at the guardrail with their caps off, and as the Boudicca passed, the Canadian sailors waved their caps and gave three hearty cheers for the veterans. They were now on their way to Bayeux, Normandy, and were escorted by three ships for this important part of their journey.
After breakfasting on board, coaches transported the veterans to the war graves cemetery at Bayeux. 
Dennis and other veterans were wheeled into a giant marquee where a service was held around the war memorial. As many of you will know, this event was attended by Prince Charles, The Duchess of Cornwall, the Prime Minister and President Trump as well as President Macron and other important people. Moving speeches were made commemorating the many soldiers who had died during the Normandy landings during this hugely important campaign of WW2. Dennis was one of the ex servicemen who were given the privilege of laying a wreath at the memorial. Music throughout the day was supplied by various military bands.
After the serious business of the day was concluded, the ‘big wigs’ as Dennis referred to them mixed with the veterans and chatted with them. Prince Charles asked Dennis if this was the first time he’d been to Bayeux, and after being told that Dennis had been there twice, he jovially replied that he had been there about thirty times. Dennis even exchanged a small joke with the Duchess of Cornwall! He had met her at Southsea Common, and the Duchess recognized Dennis and joked as she shook hands with him ‘We’ve got to stop meeting like this!’ (Anyone who knows Dennis will realise that he has a memorable face as he has a very cheery and perhaps rather cheeky smile!) By this time the music in the marquee was more light hearted, with the Central band of the British Legion playing a mixture of military music and ‘swing music’ of WW2, conducted by an ex-marine.
Outside the huge marquee, a lady asked Dennis if he would like to meet the Prime Minister, and Dennis said ‘yes’ so he also met Mrs. May and her husband. Dennis was impressed to learn about the security measures taken for this part of the commemoration events; — all the motorways and roads in this part of France had been closed. The next day visits were made to Port Winston and the ‘Mulberry Harbours’ beaches, but Dennis was unwell that day so he stayed on the ship to rest.
And so we come to the end of Dennis’s adventure. I asked him what he thought of the whole event. ‘Excellent’ he replied, ‘You couldn’t fault it at all. It was very emotional at times, of course.’ The ‘Voyage of the Veterans’ was organized by Bob Gamble of the British Legion together with Arena Travel of Ipswich, who took care of 260 veterans and their companions, which was a huge undertaking, so congratulations to them. And let’s not forget that these veterans are by definition all over 90 years of age, so we ought to offer all of them our hearty congratulations too.
Felicity Austin.