By Lyn Funnell
What does D-Day stand for? It just means Day. It was a term that referred to the beginning of a Military operation.
The biggest and most well-known was on the 6th June, 1944. It was codenamed Operation Neptune. 24,000 British, American and Canadian troops invaded the Normandy beaches to fight Hitler’s German troops and to liberate France.
Nearly 10,000 men died.
On the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, 6th June 2024, there were celebrations to remember the event, all over the UK, and in France.
We went to Ripe, our local village, which had organised a whole evening of events.
The church bells were ringing as we arrived. All church bells were silent during the war.
A local DJ played wartime music, and then the Lewes, Glynde and Beddingham Brass band took over for a while.
At 9pm the beacon was lit. The next beacon was at Firle and would have seen the Ripe one after dark.
A man dressed as Sergeant Wilson from Dad’s Army read a local dedication and then a minute’s silence was heard.
There was a Fancy Dress Competition, won by a man who was the spitting double of Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army.
Although it was June, the temperature dropped very low and we were all freezing, so we left as the South Coast Soul Review started playing in the marquee.
They were very good, but we went home to warm up.
We all agreed that it was a successful, memorable evening. But how many of us would still be around for the 100th anniversary? Probably none of the Veterans would be alive.
Will people still care?
