On Saturday 6 June the last surviving UK veterans attended the 82nd anniversary of D-Day when the Allies invaded northern France in World War Two. This huge operation took place on 6 June 1944, when 156,000 British, American and Canadian troops stormed beaches along the Normandy coastline, or were parachuted in, to begin the liberation of France from Nazi occupation. This year just six veterans were able to attend the ceremony at the British Normandy Memorial. Since the last anniversary an extra 98 names have been added to the roll of honour on the Memorial which now lists 22,450 British names.

Cecil Green, who was mortally wounded in Normandy, is among the newly added names. When he learned his campaign to have his father’s name added had been successful, Cecil’s son, John, said, “I was really pleased, I cried. It’s a strange mixture of being glad and happy and sad at the same time.” Normandy veteran Kenneth Hay, now 100-years-old, was there this year, possibly for the last time, and said, “To most people coming here they’re just a list of names. To people like me, they’re people, I can see their faces.”

Remembering the past is important. Future generations owe an incalculable debt to those who gave their lives to secure the freedom we enjoy. George Santayana, the Spanish philosopher, said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” However, many of those who survived D-Day, including my wife’s father, didn’t talk about the traumas they experienced, they wished they could forget. At remembrance services the words of Laurence Binyon are recited, “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.”

I have the New Testament my father, together with all from Britain who served in World War Two, was given in September 1939. On the first page there is a short message from his Majesty King George VI: “To all serving in my Forces by sea, or land, or in the air and indeed, to all people engaged in the defence of the Realm, I commend the reading of this book. For centuries the Bible has been a wholesome and strengthening influence in our national life, and it behoves us in these momentous days to turn with renewed faith to this Divine source of comfort and inspiration.” We do not know how many found comfort in God’s Word as they prepared for D-Day, but we do know for certain that God’s promises in Jesus are absolutely true, and we can trust in him with all our hearts.