Cornwall remembers our D-Day heroes - here's everything you need to know
We've complied the stories from those still alive who played their part - and also a list of events taking place today
Last updated 6th Jun 2024
Across Cornwall, those who witnessed the Normandy Landings - or preparations for it - have been sharing their stories on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Almost 133,000 troops from the Allied Forces landed on D-Day. 4,414 Allied troops were killed and over 5,000 were wounded,
Across the UK, a wide range of tributes and ceremonies are taking place today, including the lighting of beacons, with cathedrals and churches ringing their bells at 6.30pm.
Two D-Day veterans from the South-West are starring in a campaign for Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women.
Richard Aldred, 99, from Callington in Cornwall, and Peggy Harding, 101, from Torquay in Devon, are appearing on large digital screens in central London and Portsmouth between 30 May and 6 June to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Operation Overlord.
Richard, then 19, was a tank driver and served with the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards which were sent to Normandy after D-Day as reinforcement. His unit landed on Sword Beach via one of the Mulberry harbours and replaced others decimated by German forces.
Richard has recalled the cramped, unsanitary conditions inside the tanks and the horrors of war, including suffering livestock and the stench of death.
He says: “You’ve got to get on with your friends because the whole thing tank smells of frightened human beings, petrol, hydraulic oil and gunpowder.”
Richard is incredibly humble when asked about his role in D-Day. He says: “I’m just an ordinary person but I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve been in the Royal Armoured Corps.”
Richard, who turns 100 a month after D-Day, begun to be supported by Blind Veterans UK in January this year after losing his sight due to macular degeneration.
Veteran Peggy Harding, aged 101 from Torquay, enlisted into the Women’s Royal Navy Service in January 1943. Peggy served as a linguist, translating intercepted radio messages.
In her role she would work alone in a direction finding tower between Dover and Folkstone during the hours of darkness writing down pages of code that she intercepted from the German forces. Peggy was on watch on the evening of 5 June 1944.
She said: “It was very obvious something was going to happen. You could tell.
At the time we thought we were doing something important, but of course nobody knew about this until the mid to late 70s. My parents died before knowing what I’d been doing.”
Peggy was diagnosed with age related macular degeneration and began to receive support from Blind Veterans UK in 2018.
Today in Falmouth a commemoration wreath laying is taking place at Kimberley Park at 11am. The same will happen in Truro at the war memorial on Boscawen Street.
Before that in Truro, the city's Town Crier will lead a special ceremony to remember the tens of thousands of allied forces who gave service on D-Day.
There will be a D-Day Memorial Service organised by the Federation of ex-Services at Saltash Passage and a beacon will be lit at the Royal Citadel at Plymouth Hoe at 9.15pm.
Beacon lightings are taking place at multiple locations across Cornwall.
At the same time, at Saltash Waterside, locals are invited to commemorate D-Day by remembering all those who took part or were affected by the events of eight decades ago and shining a light in a display of peace.
There will also be D-Day displays in local libraries from June 6 to 15 and - following June 6 - final year Crafts and Material Practices student Stuart Morrissey, from Arts University Plymouth, will hand over a memorial sculpture and bench dedicated to the men of US 29th Infantry Division who trained in the area to Mount Edgcumbe House & Country Park.
Service troops were stationed and prepared there for the historical moment in 1944.