Make D-Day a national holiday so we never forget the sacrifices of war – GP Taylor

Our multi-cultural, liberal society would have never happened. There would be no gay people. All that we hold dear would be gone under the Fourth or even Fifth Reich.

Britain would be a province of Germany, an outer state of one of the most evil empires history has ever seen. It would be a nightmare beyond our wildest dreams.

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Our culture, history and language would be gone. There would be no protests in the streets, no strikes, no dissent. We would be work robots for the Fatherland, in the control of a Chancellor who would never allow us to Brexit.

Thankfully, what happened 75 years ago changed the world forever in a very positive way.

Hitler was hunted down. The Nazis were defeated and freedom returned to the occupied lands. This amazing defeat was achieved at the hands of ordinary men and women who did some quite extraordinary things.

Often, their stories go untold but, without them, life could have been very different.

My mind cannot comprehend what it would be like to be on the front of a landing craft as it made its way to a Normandy beach.

There would be the sound of machine guns, the noise of bullets boiling the water as they hit the sea. Then would come the sound of the vessel hitting the sand and the splash as the front ramp drops into the water.

All that stands between you and the enemy is 100 yards of sand, possibly filled with mines ready to blow you to pieces. Yet, brave soldiers, many in their teens, leapt from the landing craft and ran towards the enemy.

I cannot imagine the terror of what that must be like. The stench of death all around as comrades fall. That was the reality for many Yorkshiremen on the June 6, 1944. Those brave soldiers were prepared to give their lives so that I could live in freedom and democracy.

They were prepared to do a job that could mean certain death. Young lives cut short, sons, brothers, husbands, cut down in their prime so that future generations could live in peace.

During the Battle of Normandy, over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing. The loss of life is staggering. As the war progressed thousands more would die.

It is very sad, 75 years on, that this cost of human life seems to be being forgotten. No longer are we at war. First world problems fill our heads as we worry about the price of food and who will win Love Island.

The sacrifice made all those years ago fades year by year. There are those who would seek for it to be forgotten all together. There is a belief amongst some people that it is wrong to keep reminding ourselves of a war fought long ago.

I totally disagree.

Every generation must be made to stare into the barrel of history. It should not be sanitised, made politically- correct or the horrific sacrifices ignored. The lost lives of brave men and women cannot – and should not– be consigned to the dustbin for the sake of the feelings of “snowflakes”.

D-Day should be made a national holiday, so that future generations will never forget what can happen if we fail to stand up to the despot.

Hitler may never have tried to invade Poland if he thought that Britain would have retaliated straight away. In my opinion, his bravado was fuelled by a weak Prime Minister who allowed himself to be bullied.

The ‘little scrap of paper’ should have been torn up and Hitler should have been told no deal.

As is always the case, when politicians get it wrong, it is left to the brave women and men of this country to put it right.

I will never be able to tell those who fought in Normandy how grateful I am for all that they did. All I can do is to make sure that I commemorate their bravery by telling my children of the debt we all owe to those who fought on D-Day.

More than ever, there is the need for us to remind the world of what can happen when good people do nothing.

There are still those who would seek to subdue us with their sinister beliefs. History should never be allowed to repeat itself.

As a nation, we can never forget the bravery and courage that happened on that day all those years ago. Such events have to be honoured and truthfully remembered.