Yahoo News Veterans commemorate 80th anniversary of D-Day at Newcastle's Old Eldon Square war memorial
Veterans gathered at Newcastle's Old Eldon Square war memorial to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The event was put together by the veterans themselves, with between 20 and 30 service personnel in attendance. There was a short address and a minute's silence at 11am on Thursday, followed by the playing of the 'Last Post' and some other musical accompaniments such as the Dad's Army theme.
The war memorial at Old Eldon Square provided a poignant backdrop to the event, as shoppers who were stood around the memorial also paid their respects 80 years on from the invasion of the beaches in Normandy by the Allies in World War Two. The event was predominantly organised by Matt Hall and Mike Brook.
Matt, 67, served in the Coldstream Guards originally, before joining the Territorial Army and staying within the service for 16 years.
He said: "Over the years we have put on a lot of these types of events and we want to join everyone around the world in commemorating such a significant anniversary. We shared information and put the word out on social media, and as this will probably be the last big anniversary that people who fought will be here for, it makes it even more important."
Mike Brook, the treasurer of the Joint Ex Serviceman Association, followed in the footsteps of several of his mum and dad's siblings who fought during D-Day, joining the First Battalion of the Army in 1970, and then moved on to the Sixth Battalion Territorial Army.
He said: "Being a serviceman brings you into a community which comes about from the camaraderie of being in the military, but exists long after you become a veteran. Today was a really nice service, we had representatives from the Army and the Navy, and this further goes to show how important it is to remember these events and pass them on to the next generation."
Another of the main attendees was Colonel L Mcleman, who spent 36 years as part of the Royal Engineers, commanding a regiment in the North East, before spending eight years as commander of the Durham Army Cadet Service. Mr Mcleman, 80, is the chair of the Join Ex Serviceman Association, and it was through this organisation that this service was made possible.
"We were able to pass the word around and get new people involved in this event, we even had someone who is 96 and was deployed in Singapore in 1948. The service today was a success and it was also great to see the civilians observing the silence and recognising that we were doing this properly.
"There are very few veterans from that time left and I feel like as long as we can keep doing things to remember what happened during the Second World War then we are doing right by them."
On Thursday evening, beacons will be lit by the Lord Mayor of Newcastle councillor Rob Higgins along Ceremonial Way outside Newcastle Civic Centre. The ceremony will take place at 9.15pm, to coincide with beacon lighting around the UK.
