Tearful D-Day veterans collect in Normandy to pay tribute to the fallen

Tearful D-Day veterans have gathered in Normandy to pay tribute to their fallen brothers, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the historic day. 

Over 30 former servicemen made the ferry crossing from Portsmouth Harbour yesterday, compared to more than 200 in 2019.

During the journey across the Channel, a wreath was thrown into the sea by Harry Birdsall, 98, and Alec Penstone, 98, in memory of those who never made it ashore. 

Four veterans then walked on Sword Beach alongside serving military personnel, to honour their landing at the site in 1944. 

Over 4,400 Allied soldiers lost their lives as they forced back German troops. Standing on the beach 80 years later, one veteran declared there ‘are things worth fighting for.’ 

D-Day veteran John Dennett, 99, from Liverpool, gets emotional during a Spirit of Normandy Trust wreath-laying service just off the French coastline

Veteran Donald Jones reacts as he returns to Sword Beach in Normandy, France, where he landed on D-Day

D-Day veteran Henry Rice, 98, sheds a tear at the statue of Field Marshal Montgomery during the Spirit of Normandy Trust service in Coleville-Montgomery, France

An emotional day for the war heroes after locals approached the men on the beach to thank them for their service.

Mr Jones from Mold, North Wales, became visibly moved and sat alone in his wheelchair with tears in his eyes as he remembered that fateful day. 

More than 150,000 British, Canadian and American troops landed in a combined naval, air and ground assault on Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944.

Mr Jones joined applied for the Royal Navy in 1942 when he was 17 years old and in 1943 he was sent to train at H.M.S Raleigh, according to the Mold & District Civil Society.

The next year, a ship he was posted on landed on Sword Beach at around 8am on D-Day – it was one of five landing points where thousands of troops arrived.