The last remaining destroyer from the Second World War has been the focus of one of scores of D-Day commemoration events today.
HMS Cavalier is moored in the Historic Dockyard at Chatham, where dozens of people turned out today to pay their respects on this the 80th anniversary of “the longest day” when on June 6,160,000 Allied Troops landed on five beaches in Normandy and began the liberation of occupied Europe from Nazi Germany.
Tim Stopford of the Royal Naval Association said that the troops had simply reported to their muster points and then “got on with it.”
He said: “They were ordinary people, from every trade and none, and they each did their part in preventing the United Kingdom from becoming a satellite of Germany.”
Brigadier Peter Gilbert said that the site of the National Destroyer Memorial was a fitting place to remember the occasion.
He said: “Destroyers played their part throughout the war, but of course also escorted the invasion force to the beaches at Normandy on D-Day.”
Britain lost 142 destroyers during the course of the war, with11,000 crew members killed.
Kelly Tolhurst, the former Conservative MP for Rochester and Strood was at the ceremony as was the Labour candidate for the seat in the forthcoming general election, Lauren Edwards. They laid aside political differences to praise those who had landed at Normandy.
Ms Tolhurst said: “Recognising the sacrifices they made and keeping their memory alive is so important.”
Ms Edwards said the successful landing had been “an amazing achievement in our history.”
Tonight, at 9.15pm, beacons will be lit at more than 50 locations in Kent to remember the fallen.
Similar events will be taking place simultaneously in America, Canada, France and many other Allied countries.
