Honouring the fallen of D-Day

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM: Rob Beale, formerly an officer of A Company, 7th Wellington-Hawke’s Bay Regiment, speaks of what happened on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Pictures by Liam Clayton

The heroes of D-Day were honoured at the RSA yesterday 75 years after Allied forces landed in France to begin the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe.

While international dignitaries attended commemorations in sunny Normandy, a small group honoured the fallen on a cold, dark Gisborne afternoon.

The city was one of the few centres in the country to commemorate D-Day, said Gisborne RSA president Paul Bayly.

Those soldiers had died “so that we might have peace today”.

Salvation Army Sergeant Major Grant Harris said the sacrifice of those who died at Normandy was not in vain.

“They went in to stop genocide and slaughter and gave their lives for that.

“We give our thanks.”

Rob Beale, formerly an officer of A Company, 7th Wellington-Hawke’s Bay Regiment, spoke of the events on the day of June 6, 1944.

The landings and subsequent fighting would result in 425,000 casualties, he said.

He honoured New Zealanders who served at Normandy in non-New Zealand units.

He noted that the war continued elsewhere around the world.

New Zealand 2 Division was just south of Rome, taken by American forces the day before, while 3 Division was in the Solomon Islands where it had participated in three amphibious landings.

Twenty RNZAF squadrons, merchant seamen shipping food to Britain and American forces in the Pacific and the New Zealand Navy, all contributed to the war effort, he said.

“Lest we forget.”