The cast-list featured four of the most powerful people on Earth – including the President of the United States himself. Yet they had only a supporting role.
The knockout stars of this show were two nonagenarians who can remember June 1944 as if it were last week: John Jenkins and the Queen. World leaders had gathered with veterans yesterday to salute the D-Day generation on the Channel coast where it all started.
It fell to the monarch to sum it up in a single sentence as she addressed the veterans alongside her: ‘It is with humility and pleasure, on behalf of the entire country – indeed the whole free world – that I say to you all, thank you.’
It was, though, 99-year-old John Jenkins who had everyone on their feet, as he spoke forcefully on behalf of all the veterans, and then brought the house down with a joke about fluffing his lines. ‘I was 12 years old on D-Day.’ He paused. ‘Sorry, 23. I put my age back a bit!’ The audience loved it.
Veteran John Jenkins MBE takes to the stage during the D-Day commemorations. He was one of the knockout stars of the show on Wednesday
Queen Elizabeth II and President Donald Trump attend the event to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Portsmouth on Wednesday
Veterans travelling on the MV Boudicca, a cruise ship chartered by the Royal British Legion to take more than 250 fellow veterans to the 75th Anniversary of D-Day commemorations, are given a send off as they leave Portsmouth for France
Performers speak on stage during the D-Day Commemorations. On Thursday, an ever-dwindling band of veterans from across the world will return to the French battlefield where civilisation itself hung in the balance
This morning, exactly 75 years on from June 6, 1944, and the bloody start of the liberation of Europe, there will be major events in Normandy; an ever-dwindling band of veterans from across the world will return to the French battlefield where civilisation itself hung in the balance.
Yesterday, however, was the big international ceremony to mark the invasion.
All the allied nations – plus the old enemy – gathered in Portsmouth. Southsea Common had been transformed into a fortified open-air theatre with grandstand seating for 300 veterans and their families plus the world leaders.
Afterwards, the two groups mingled at a reception where one bold D-Day veteran from Essex flirted brazenly with the US First Lady – in front of the President. ‘If it wasn’t for you and if only I was 20 years younger,’ Thomas Cuthbert, 93, observed. ‘You could handle it,’ chuckled Mr Trump.
The American President, still on cloud nine at the end of his three-day state visit to the UK, was clearly thrilled to be sitting alongside the Queen for a lively and extremely moving 80-minute ceremony-cum-show during which he read a prayer penned by a predecessor. He frequently swapped asides with the Queen and the Prince of Wales.
The veterans’ voice came in the authentic form of Mr Jenkins (pictured), a former sergeant in the Pioneer Corps who landed on Gold Beach 48 hours after the first wave
The Queen herself appeared glued to a performance which included a risqué knicker-flashing dance sequence and the first recorded use of the F-word at a state occasion.
There were walk-on roles for the leaders of all the main allied nations, including a poignant recital by the Prime Minister
Interestingly, out of all the VVIPs, the one who seemed most engrossed was the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. She looked spellbound during a dramatised re-enactment of the quarrel between the D-Day weather forecasters.
Five of the G7 leaders were here, along with all the main players from the European Union. D-Day was a colossal multinational undertaking. Hence the presence of the leaders of 16 countries yesterday (including the Germans).
It meant that this event also served as a serious global summit – not that it felt like one.
There was the mandatory leaders’ photo (the politicians wanted their snap with the Queen, of course). Yet the focus, from start to finish, was on the veterans.
The proceedings opened with screen testimonies from a veteran from each of the three main allied nations – the UK, the USA and Canada – starting with magnificent understatement by former able seaman Bert Edwards. ‘Golly, D-Day,’ he began. We all knew what he meant.
A delightful sergeant from the US 501st Airborne, Eugene Deibler, recalled the words of a fellow paratrooper as their plane came in to contact with the enemy over Normandy: ‘We could get killed up here. Let’s get out of this plane.’
The RAF Red Arrows put on a colourful display to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings
The Queen appeared glued to a performance (pictured) which included a risqué knicker-flashing dance sequence and the first recorded use of the F-word at a state occasion
The RAF Red Arrows create a heart in the sky, as they perform at the 75th anniversary D-Day commemoration. Around 300 veterans gathered for the occasion
The president (pictured alongside the Queen) frequently swapped asides with the Queen and the Prince of Wales during the ceremony
The American President, still on cloud nine at the end of his three-day state visit to the UK, was clearly thrilled to be sitting alongside the Queen for a lively and extremely moving 80-minute ceremony-cum-show during which he read a prayer penned by a predecessor
At which point, all three men appeared on stage. The audience were on their feet in an instant. The Queen, who does not normally go in for ovations, gladly joined this one.
Music and readings set the scene for D-Day, starting with the fall of France in 1940. The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, read the citation for his country’s first Victoria Cross of the Second World War. It was won by Lt Col Cecil Merritt who led his men into the mayhem of the 1942 Dieppe Raid, the disastrous trial run for D-Day in which the Canadians bore the heaviest losses. The recollection of the entry of the US into the war was the cue for Mr Trump’s appearance on stage.
He took slow, almost delicate steps. This was the very last place on earth he wanted to trip or take a wrong turn. His chosen text had been kept secret until the last minute. He opened a big black folder and proceeded to recite the prayer which President Roosevelt had delivered on US radio as the D-Day invasion began: ‘Almighty God, our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavour.’
As Mr Trump concluded with a firm ‘Amen’, there was applause across the grandstands and the open-seating area filled with diplomats and members of allied armed forces.
Sheridan Smith sings on stage during the D-Day Commemorations. Taking to the stage, she was belting out the legendary songs of World War II icon Vera Lynn as she was watched by The Queen, Theresa May, Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel to mark the momentous day
I looked across to row 3 of the VIP section where Jeremy Corbyn was seated. There was no discernible hand movement. If the Labour leader was clapping, I could not see it. Having boycotted this week’s state banquet for Mr Trump, Mr Corbyn had also addressed Tuesday’s ‘Stop Trump’ rally in London.
Ahead of D-Day, the arrival of hundreds of thousands of US troops on British soil had a profound impact on the life of a drab, wartorn nation.
An actor read from a GI’s letter to his family back home in America describing life in Britain – ‘every time I turn around, somebody is always shoving a cup of tea in my fist’. He was followed by a boisterous cabaret performance of the Andrews Sisters’ classic, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.
As the girls went flying overhead, so did their floaty Forties dresses, revealing all. Theresa May, alongside President Emmanuel Macron of France, roared with laughter.
The veterans’ voice came in the authentic form of Mr Jenkins, a former sergeant in the Pioneer Corps who landed on Gold Beach 48 hours after the first wave.
He received some of the loudest applause of the day as he walked on stage. ‘I was terrified,’ he declared. ‘I think everyone was. You don’t show it, but it’s there. I look back on it as a big part of my life – but I was just a small part in a very big machine. You never forget your comrades because we were all in there together.’
Mr Jenkins, who later took part in the liberation of a German concentration camp, will be 100 in November.
Earlier, he told me that he still has two abiding memories of Normandy. One was seeing the city of Caen flattened by American B29s and the other was of sleeping in a pig sty (‘there weren’t any pigs in there because the Germans had eaten them’). I suspect he will never forget yesterday, either.
Drifting down from the cloudy sky above the village of Sannerville, hundreds of parachutists re-enact one of the key moments of D-Day – the airborne landings behind German lines to seize key targets, such as Pegasus Bridge, before the main Allied forces hit the beaches. Taking part in yesterday’s dramatic tribute were 280 French and British paratroopers, including Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade in Second World War uniforms. They were followed by civilian volunteers leaping from historic Dakotas and veterans Jock Hutton, 94, and Harry Read, 95
In this photograph taken on June 6, 1944 paratroopers of the Allied forces land on La Manche coast after Allied forces stormed the Normandy beaches during D-Day
Today, the veterans will land in Normandy to pay homage to their pals. Yesterday brought it all flooding back for so many.
I talked to local lad Alfred Fuzzard, 97, a Pompey-born petty officer in a landing craft on the morning of D-Day. He still shudders at the memory of the bodies in the water.
One soldier still carried a photo of his wife and children. ‘I wanted him to be sent home to his family. But I had to start sewing him up for burial at sea,’ says Mr Fuzzard, who will be returning to Normandy for the first time this morning.
The Prime Minister illustrated the tragic side of D-Day as she read out a letter from Captain Norman Skinner (pictured), an insurance salesman who signed up to join the Royal Army Service Corps
The tears began to flow. It wasn’t the thought of the body which upset him so much, he explained, as the photo. ‘I just can’t forget that young family,’ he said.
His friend Les Hammond 94, a former REME mechanic with the 86th Anti-Tank Regiment, became equally emotional as he told me about his comrade in arms, Sergeant Bill Palmer.
‘He’d just taken out three German tanks and jumped down to the ground when a mortar killed him on the spot,’ said Les.
‘What chokes me up is that he was such a nice bloke and he was an orphan with no children. I always try to visit his grave when I go to France. Because there’s no one else who thinks about him.’
The Prime Minister illustrated the tragic side of D-Day as she read out a letter from Captain Norman Skinner, an insurance salesman who signed up to join the Royal Army Service Corps.
Written to his wife, Gladys, just three days before the invasion, it was still in his pocket as he came ashore on Sword Beach.
‘My darling this is a very difficult letter for me to write. As you know something may happen at any moment and I cannot tell when you will receive this,’ the Prime Minister recited, voice unwavering.
‘You and I have had some lovely years which now seem to have passed at lightning speed. My thoughts at this moment, in this lovely Saturday afternoon, are with you all now.
‘I can imagine you in the garden having tea with Janey and Anne getting ready to put them to bed.’
Enchanting and yet heartbreaking.
Four Weddings and a Funeral actor David Haig (right) performed an extract from his play Pressure. He plays Group Captain James Stagg, the Scottish meteorologist who persuaded military chiefs to delay D-Day because of a predicted storm
Theresa May had audience members in tears as she read a letter from Captain Norman Skinner, from the Royal Army Service Corp, written to his wife two days before setting sail for Normandy
The heart-breaking telegram Mrs Skinner received informing her that she had been made a widow, after her husband Captain Norman Skinner died during the war
There were walk-on roles for the leaders of all the main allied nations during the commemorations, including a poignant recital by the Prime Minister
The PM then turned to the giant screen as it flashed up the dreaded telegram announcing Capt Skinner’s death in action a day after landing in France. The official message would reach Gladys long before the letter.
DOOMED CAPTAIN’S LOVING LETTER TO WIFE THAT MADE THE NATION WEEP…
Three days before D-Day, Norman Skinner of the Royal Army Service Corps wrote a letter to this wife Gladys. It was found in his pocket when he died after landing at Sword beach.
My Darling,
This is a very difficult letter for me to write.
As you know, something may happen to me at any moment and I cannot tell when you will receive this.
I had hoped to be able to see you during last weekend but it was impossible to get away and all the things I intended to say must be written.
I am sure that anyone with imagination must dislike the thought of what’s coming.
But my fears will be more of being afraid than of what can happen to me.
You and I have had some lovely years which now seem to have passed at lightning speed.
My thoughts at this moment, in this lovely Saturday afternoon, are with you all now.
I can imagine you in the garden, having tea with Janey and Anne, and getting them ready to put them to bed.
Although I would give anything to be back with you, I have not yet had any wish at all to back down from the job we have to do.
There is so much that I would like to be able to tell you.
Nearly all of which you’ve heard many, many times.
But just to say, that I mean it even more today. I am sure that I will be with you again soon and for good.
Please give my fondest love to my Anne and my Janey.
God bless and keep you all safe for me.
President Macron read out a similarly unbearable final despatch from a young member of the French Resistance, scribbled in haste before his execution by the Gestapo at the age of just 16.
‘Do not worry about me,’ wrote Henri Fertet. ‘I will keep my bravery and my good humour to the last and I will sing “Sambre et Meuse” because it was you, my dearly beloved mother, who taught it to me.’
That D-Day was a series of monumental gambles was illustrated by an extract from the stage play, Pressure.
It tells the story of Group Captain James Stagg, the RAF meteorologist who fought his American colleagues to persuade General Eisenhower to delay the attack by a day because of an approaching storm.
He was proved right. But did we really need to hear the actor playing Eisenhower shout: ‘There’s a f****** hurricane out there!’ on live daytime BBC television in front of the Queen and the old soldiers?
Finally, came the most familiar voice of all.
Pin-sharp, the Queen talked clearly over the strong breeze which was flapping the pages of her speech.
‘When I attended the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, some thought it might be the last such event,’ she began. ‘But the wartime generation – my generation – is resilient.’
She said it with just a hint of mischief in her voice, adding: ‘And I am delighted to be with you in Portsmouth today.’
At which point, we could hear the roar of the tens of thousands watching on video screens on the other side of the steel security fence. They loved this. Prince Charles broke into a proud smile.
The Queen went on quote the words of her father, George VI, to the nation: ‘What is demanded from us all is something more than courage and endurance; we need a revival of spirit, a new unconquerable resolve.’
She added: ‘That is exactly what those brave men brought to the battle, as the fate of the world depended on their success.’
And then came those heartfelt words of thanks.
A flypast of warbirds old and new brought things to a conclusion. Today, a grateful nation, led by a very grateful Queen, will be thinking about the veterans as they return to the beaches where they risked their lives.
