The King took to the stage to give a speech at a commemorative event in Portsmouth this morning to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. His Majesty was joined by the Queen, the prime minister, and the Prince of Wales, as well as over 500 veterans, at the ceremony.
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00:00Their Majesties the King and Queen
00:30Ladies and gentlemen, 80 years ago today, Field Marshal Montgomery, Commander-in-Chief
00:45of the Allied Ground Forces, wrote in his message to all soldiers on the eve of D-Day,
00:53that us is given the honour of striking a blow for freedom which will live in history
01:01and in the better days that lie ahead, men will speak with pride of our doings.
01:10Today we come together to honour those nearly 160,000 British, Commonwealth and Allied troops
01:20who on the 5th of June 1944 assembled here and along these shores to embark on the mission
01:31which would strike that blow for freedom and be recorded as the greatest amphibious operation
01:39in history.
01:42Those who gathered here in Portsmouth would never forget the sight, it was by far the
01:51largest military fleet the world has ever known, yet all knew that both victory and
02:00failure were possible and none could know their fate, aircrew flying overhead, sailors
02:10manning warships or troops in assault craft battering their way through the stormy swell
02:17to the shore, whether dropping by parachute, landing in a wooden glider or taking that
02:26terrible leap of faith onto the beaches, all must have questioned whether they would survive
02:35and how they would respond when faced with such mortal danger.
02:42The poet Keith Douglas who was killed in action three days later wrote of the embarkation,
02:53actors waiting in the wings of Europe, we already watch the lights on the stage and
03:00listen to the colossal overture begin, for us entering at the height of the din it will
03:09be hard to hear our thoughts, hard to gauge how much our conduct owes to fear or fury.
03:21At this remove eight decades later it is a near impossible task to imagine the emotion
03:29of that day, the pride of being part of so great an enterprise, the anxiety of in some
03:39way not coming up to scratch and the fear of that day being their last.
03:48I recently myself spoke to veterans who to this day remember with such heartbreaking
03:57clarity the sight of those many soldiers lying on the beach who drowned before they
04:05could even engage in combat.
04:10The stories of courage, resilience and solidarity which we have heard today and throughout our
04:19lives cannot fail to move us, to inspire us and to remind us of what we owe to that
04:28great wartime generation now tragically dwindling to so few.
04:37It is our privilege to hear their testimony but our role is not purely passive, it is
04:46our duty to ensure that we and future generations do not forget their service and their sacrifice
04:55in replacing tyranny with freedom.
05:00Our rights and the liberty won at such terrible cost bring with them responsibilities to others
05:09in the exercise of that liberty.
05:14The allied actions of that day ensured the forces of freedom secured first a toehold
05:23in Normandy, then liberated France and ultimately the whole of Europe from the stranglehold
05:31of a brutal totalitarianism.
05:36But as we remember with humility, pride and gratitude, let us never forget that the soldiers
05:44who fought in the campaign launched from this place came from 30 nations, from across the
05:53United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and allied countries, while elsewhere in Europe allied
06:01forces continued to make vital progress in their successful Italian campaign.
06:09And while halfway around the world, at that same moment, the critical battles of Imphal
06:17and Kohima raged on in what was then Burma.
06:25The 1944 Victoria Cross Role of Honour includes Sikh, Muslim and Hindu soldiers, a reminder
06:36that events that year shaped our world then and the society we share today.
06:45While it was the frontline troops who faced the greatest personal dangers, the privations
06:52and sacrifices of war were endured by so many more.
06:58The allied victory was a truly collective effort, born of the fortitude and hard work
07:07of those who remained on the home front, toiling in factories, under our land in the mines,
07:15out in the fields or working in secret, men and women alike.
07:24Their collective industry, ingenuity and commitment helped our soldiers, sailors and airmen to
07:32prevail.
07:37So as we give thanks for all those who gave so much to win the victory, whose fruits we
07:46still enjoy to this day, let us once again commit ourselves always to remember, cherish
07:56and honour those who served that day and to live up to the freedom they died for by balancing
08:05rights with civic responsibilities to our country.
08:11For we are all eternally in their debt.
08:35Thank you.