Chatham's Historic Dockyard commemorates 80th anniversary of D-Day

One of the dockyard's ships, the HMS Cavalier is preserved on the site, marking the 142 destroyers lost in the conflict.

Transcript

00:00Dozens have descended onto the historic dockyard in Chatham today to commemorate 80 years since

00:06D-Day, a day where troops from the UK, US, Canada and France landed on the coast of Normandy,

00:12marking the start of a campaign to liberate North West Europe from Nazi occupation.

00:18You turned up and you found yourself at Chatham or Portsmouth or Devonport or Aldershot if

00:25you were a soldier and you just got on with it under the instructors who barked at you

00:3224 hours a day. They were ordinary people like you and me who came from every trade and none

00:40and they played their part in preventing England or Great Britain from becoming a German satellite.

00:51Here we're at the National Destroyer Memorial. Destroyers were so important throughout the

00:58World War, both starting off with the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 and then four years later

01:06escorting the ships, escorting the invasion fleet, but of course so many other ways in

01:12which they were involved in the war. So this is a very, very important and poignant place to be.

01:17The HMS Cavalier is the last remaining destroyer from the Second World War and those who've come

01:22along today have also come to watch this D-Day peace flag being raised and this is to commemorate

01:28the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The Cavalier was launched in 1945. It wasn't involved in D-Day

01:36but was involved in the conflict and it's now preserved at the historic dockyard. The ship

01:42represents the 142 destroyers which were lost in the conflict and the estimated 11,000 lives

01:49lost on board. Recognising it, commemorating the sacrifices that our troops, men and women,

01:57who did so much for us at the D-Day landings and it's really important to make sure that

02:04we keep those memories alive, we keep the education. Celebrate what was an amazing

02:10achievement in our history. I wanted to obviously remember the people who gave their lives and

02:15really just get the community together and remember their sacrifice and the role that

02:19we played here in Medway. Today's a day to remember the lives lost on the beaches of Normandy

02:24as thousands fought to liberate Western Europe from Nazi Germany. Those here today hope the

02:30bravery of the Allied forces will be remembered for years to come. Sophia Akin for KMTV in Chatham.