How fortunate we are that they did not flinch

Veterans' tears at King's moving words 80 years on from D-Day

- Robert Dex

THE King today paid tribute to those who "did not flinch when the moment came" on D-Day as he spoke at a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the military operation which changed the course of the Second World War.

Veterans could be seen wiping their eyes as he made his address at the national commemorative event at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-surMer this morning. The King and Queen also appeared emotional during the service, with Camilla wiping her eye as the memories of one D-Day veteran were read to the audience.

Dressed in military uniform, the King said: "Eighty years ago on D-Day, the 6th of June 1944, our nation and those which stood alongside it-faced what my grandfather, King George VI, described as the supreme test. How fortunate we were, and the entire free world, that a generation of men and women in the United Kingdom and other allied nations did not flinch when the moment came to face that test." He added: "On the beaches of Normandy, on the seas beyond and in the skies overhead, our armed forces carried out their duty with a humbling sense of resolve and determination - qualities so characteristic of that remarkable war-time generation.

"Very many of them never came home. They lost their lives on the D-Day landing grounds or in the many battles that followed. It is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all those who served at that critical time. We recall the lesson that comes to us again and again across the decades-free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny."