EVENTS IN FRANCE
TODAY June 5
10am Pegasus Bridge Families of the small band of brave soldiers from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry who landed in gliders to secure Pegasus Bridge pay their respects.
11am Ceremony attended by 100 ex-Paras who helped secure vital canal and silence German big guns, 37 of whom will arrive in convoy of London black cabs. Five UK veterans including Wren radio operator Marie Scott will receive Legion d'Honneur medals, France’s highest order of merit. 3pm – 4pm Sannerville Stunning display of 750 parachutes including 280 UK and French paratroopers re-enacting the leap into Normandy close to crucial British target to capture Pegasus Bridge. Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade will jump from Hercules
transport planes wearing WW2 uniforms, followed by civilian volunteers leaping from historic Dakotas, including veterans Harry Read, 95, and Jock Hutton, 94. 10.30pm – 11.20pm Pegasus Bridge Silent vigil and march 75 years to the minute that bridge was captured – heralding start of liberation of Europe. Hundreds of serving UK troops will take part including The Rifles and Army Air Corps, descendant regiments of those who fought there in 1944.
TOMORROW June 6
5am Le Havre Veterans aboard Royal British Legion cruise liner MV Boudicca arrive. 6.26am Arromanches Lone piper standing on Mulberry harbour will mark exact moment first British soldier landed on Gold Beach, followed by flag-raising.
7.30am Ver-sur-Mer Theresa May and President Macron to attend inauguration of British Normandy Memorial – the first monument to honour the 22,442 UK and Commonwealth heroes who never came home – which is being built with help from generous Daily Mail readers.
9am – 9.45am Bayeux Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and Theresa May will join 300 British veterans at annual Service of Remembrance at Bayeux Cathedral. Veterans then walk 600 yards to Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery. 11am-noon Bayeux Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery for Service of Remembrance attended by Prince Charles and Theresa May. Noon US cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer Donald Trump and President Macron attend ceremony overlooking Omaha Beach for 9,380 American dead. 2.15pm Arromanches British veterans begin to arrive in town overlooking Gold Beach. 5pm Arromanches Jim Radford, 90, right, who was a cabin boy, will sing his hit ballad The Shores of Normandy. 5.25pm Arromanches Parachute displays by Army’s Red Devils. 10.30pm Arromanches Firework finale and Central Band of the RAF leading veterans will sing We’ll Meet Again, White Cliffs of Dover and Auld Lang Syne.