Young people need to be reminded that without the heroism of D Day veterans they wouldn’t be able to stage sit-in protests at universities - Andrew Vine

A little way inland from the beach at Arromanches, in Normandy, lies a small and pretty village with a cherished place in its heart for Yorkshire.

It is called Crepon, and every June 6, the anniversary of the D Day landings in 1944, its people give thanks to the men of one of Yorkshire’s proudest regiments, the Green Howards, who liberated them from Nazi tyranny that day.

Everybody in Crepon, from children of primary school age to the oldest residents who remember the viciousness of occupation, knows the story of the bravery of those soldiers and the kindness they showed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Twenty years ago, reporting on the 60th anniversary of D Day for The Yorkshire Post, I had the privilege of accompanying veterans of the Green Howards – and of the East Yorkshire Regiment, who also fought their way off the beaches that day – on an emotional pilgrimage back to Normandy and seeing first-hand how much they meant to the people of Crepon.

D-Day remembrance at Normandy, France, in 2004, with members of the Green Howards association parading to the Green Howards' memorial in Crepon. PIC: Chris LawtonD-Day remembrance at Normandy, France, in 2004, with members of the Green Howards association parading to the Green Howards' memorial in Crepon. PIC: Chris Lawton
D-Day remembrance at Normandy, France, in 2004, with members of the Green Howards association parading to the Green Howards' memorial in Crepon. PIC: Chris Lawton

There were tears shed on both sides, embraces and an unashamed affection for those grand old soldiers, who modestly and smilingly batted away any suggestion that they were heroes, despite that assuredly being the case.

It was a bittersweet reunion, because age and encroaching frailty meant most of the veterans knew it would be their final return, and a last farewell to the friends and comrades left behind in the immaculate rows of war graves overlooking the beaches where they fell.

Sadly, there will be none of those great men at next week’s 80th anniversary commemorations of D Day, either in Britain or France.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Few of the 156,000 British, American and Canadian troops who charged up the beaches into murderous fire are still with us. Those remaining are in their late 90s, or over 100, and this is the last milestone anniversary at which there will be living testimony to the horrors, triumphs – and necessity - of that day.

But Crepon will remember all the same, and always will. It is home to a memorial to the Green Howards, on the main road leading to the coast where they landed that morning, which is lovingly tended and maintained by the villagers.

They put too many in Britain to shame by doing so. While they honour those who gave everything for freedom, we couldn’t care less.

That much was depressingly clear from last week’s survey by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which found fewer than half of 18 to 34-year-olds know what D Day was. Nine per cent thought it was the evacuation from Dunkirk and eight per cent believed it to be victory in the Battle of Britain.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hardly less dispiriting was that 22 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 thought that there was no longer any need to commemorate wartime anniversaries.

Boring, isn’t it, all that war stuff? You can almost hear the thought process of a lot of the young people who took part in the survey, even picture them rolling their eyes at being asked about it.

I don’t suppose it even crosses the minds of the majority who hadn’t a clue about D Day that without that moment of supreme courage and sacrifice all those years ago, we might not be in the midst of a free and fair general election campaign where they can ask candidates whatever they like and vote – maybe for the first time - for whoever they choose.

Or that there is a direct link between the old men in blazers, medals and berets who will attend the commemorations and their right to march in the streets about issues that matter to them, or stage sit-ins at universities.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A few hours’ flight from our shores, those young people’s counterparts in Ukraine would understand the link between fighting evil and living in freedom. So do the people of Crepon, where there is collective memory of living in terror.

But here, complacency and ignorance steadily undermine understanding of how the right to live as we please had to be fought for.

This is a lesson that the young need to be taught. Far from being an irrelevance from the distant past, D Day and what it represented resonates in our everyday lives.

Pausing once a year to remember and reflect, as the people of Crepon do, isn’t simply a matter of honouring those who fought, important though that is.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It’s also about strengthening our sense of engagement with democracy and standing up for it at a time when there are warnings that war is a greater threat than it has been for decades and the list of countries where extremism and repression are on the march lengthens by the month.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1754
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice