Free Normandy tours for D-Day veterans

I AM head of travel for the travel arm of the Royal British Legion, Remembrance Travel, and I’m currently on a mission to find every single surviving D-Day veteran.

The Treasury is enabling a series of free-of-charge tours for D-Day veterans to return to Normandy and pay their respects to their fallen comrades. The tours are being funded by the Treasury from Lobor fines, and will enable a D-Day veteran to return with a family member and carer on a six-night tour.

The 2017 tours will take place in March, April, May and September and will give Normandy veterans – now mostly in their nineties – the chance to revisit the Normandy beaches, cemeteries and memorials. The tours will be accompanied by a medic and a guide from the Royal British Legion. The tours will depart from London and will include Eurotunnel from Dover to Calais, accommodation, visits to Pegasus Bridge, Juno, Sword, Gold beaches, Arromanches and war memorials, plus visits to personally specified cemeteries too.

There is no database of D-Day veterans so we’re calling on the media and public to spread the word. So if you do know a D-Day veteran, please let them know.

Normandy veterans need to apply to our tour operator, Arena Travel on 01473 660 800, or visit www.arenatravel.com/ journeys of remembrance Nichola Rowlands London, SE1 1AA