Two D-Day veterans "honoured" in Portsmouth 100 days before 80th anniversary

The News, Portsmouth

Portsmouth has been named as the location for a D-Day 80th anniversary commemoration event.

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00:00 I think you've got your cap on, I should have brought my snow gloves.

00:05 I went on Russian Convoy, so I wore a white one.

00:09 My wife was very worried, she said it was dirty.

00:28 So we have a really exciting event coming up on the 5th of June.

00:32 Portsmouth is going to be the location for the national commemorative event.

00:37 And the focus of that event is going to be here on South Sea Common on the 5th,

00:42 where we're going to commemorate the service and sacrifice of our veterans

00:48 and remember the events of 80 years ago.

00:52 Well obviously everyone will remember that we were part of a global event

00:55 to commemorate D-Day 75 and D-Day 80 will be our last chance to commemorate

01:00 the event with veterans present, so it's very significant.

01:03 But for the city it's huge because so many families still have those ties

01:07 and links back to some of those men and boys who left here to go to Normandy in June 1944.

01:13 And for those families this is immensely significant.

01:16 And for the city as a whole and our military connections and our links with the Royal Navy,

01:20 it's very, very important that we mark D-Day 80 in a poignant and respectful way.

01:25 Do you see the residents turning out in their drives for the ceremony?

01:29 Portsmouth really understands the importance of this event,

01:32 so I think we will see a very big turnout and a lot of support from the local community.

01:36 And it's brilliant that the Portsmouth Museums, as part of Portsmouth City Council,

01:40 have been out there working with local businesses to get school children to come and visit D-Day's story

01:45 so that the stories are continued and the memories are kept alive.

01:48 There's now over 550 names on the Normandy Memorial Wall

01:53 and each one of those has been, most of them have been added by family or friends of the veteran

01:59 or the individual concerned.

02:01 So individually it's remembering all those different people,

02:04 but also collectively just by the sheer, the number of them that we now have on the wall,

02:09 it's also a really nice recognition of the huge number of people

02:14 who contributed to D-Day in the Battle of Normandy and the Second World War in general as well.

02:19 So Ian, what did you think of the humbling opening of the plaque to the Stan and John veterans of Normandy?

02:26 I think it was a very humbling experience.

02:29 I think John and Stan just talked like it's an everyday occurrence, like it was nothing.

02:34 But when you read their stories and actually what happened on the day, it's mind-blowing.

02:38 It's quite emotional as well because obviously I'm here because there's a link to D-Day

02:43 and my grandfather and actually speaking to them and seeing them, it just sort of reminds me of him really.

02:49 So yeah, different emotions.

02:51 I've never had the media like this for me before.

02:57 I'm delighted.

03:00 I think it's very important that D-Day and World War II were not forgotten

03:09 because unlike World War I, hardly anybody in Britain was killed.

03:19 I think the German zeppelins did drop bombs on London, but nothing like the Blitz.

03:25 World War II, for the first time, British people were killed, a lot of them.

03:33 I think remembering those who remember them, if you had a father who was killed,

03:44 I think it's important that I remember that you've got that memory.

03:48 I went to sea in '41.

03:51 In '43, I was here doing some lieutenant quarters at Wale Island on dry air

04:00 where of course subsequently General Eisenhower and his headquarters.

04:05 So I knew all about it, and I can remember as well when I was a dryer,

04:11 at night I used to come to the top of the hill at the back

04:15 and one could see horsemen being born and all the artillery fire.

04:22 And then just before D-Day, my ship was always based on Scarpel Float.

04:29 We were always carrying up to Russia or to Iceland, somewhere there.

04:34 But no, I thought it was a big part of my ...

04:40 In a way, when I was a midshipman at 17,

04:45 I joined the ship in Versailles, and the ship was refitted,

04:50 and I was sent down here to do a week's course at Wale Island.

04:56 It was the first sort of place I ever worked after I left the Naval College.

05:02 >> So you took most of the struggling to your career back then.

05:05 >> So I always remember coming across the bridge on the Wale Island.

05:10 It was very worrying because I got out of a taxi on the Wale Island.

05:15 I had to walk, and as I was coming across,

05:19 there was a sentry and an officer of the watch and everything on the far side,

05:24 and they all came out and took to attention.

05:26 >> Sentry? >> No, they were inspecting the commander in chief.

05:32 It was, it was color, and I thought I'd be in terrible trouble.

05:40 >> And finally, John, what lessons do you think that nations need to learn

05:45 since the Second World War or if they have learned them at all?

05:53 >> It worries me because they don't seem to be learning less.

05:57 I mean, what I think is sad, the United Nations doesn't seem to be able to do anything about it.

06:03 They can have their meetings, but at the moment,

06:07 the United States vetoes everything. We're never going to get anywhere,

06:14 and we all want to sell arms for our economy.

06:23 It's sad as I go across the bar, as they call it, but nothing's really changed.

06:33 >> Yeah, because the last three years, it's the same things.

06:37 >> Yeah. >> A lot of people hate each other, always.

06:45 I mean, the Palestinians, especially now, they will hate the Israelis forever.

06:51 grandmas.

06:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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