The sacrifices of the thousands of men and women who fought to liberate europe. The invasion was the largest combined land, air and Naval Operation in history and one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War. Iam i am honoured to be stood here today in front of so many other veterans. You will never forget your comrades. We were all there together. It is right that the sacrifice of so many is being honoured 75 years on. We must never forget. Seniorfigures from every country that fought alongside the uk are attending theyve agreed a commitment to uphold democracy, tolerance and the rule of law. The other headlines at two oclock. Social workers are severely criticised over the brutal murders of two toddlers in northamptonshire. Creditors vote on whether to accept a rescue deal for sir philip greens retail group, arcadia. And women born in the 1950s take the government to court, over the way their pension ages were increased. Good afternoon were live in portsmouth, where the queen has led commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of d day. Hundreds of veterans now in their 90s have beenjoined by World Leaders of the countries which fought alongside britain, in one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War. The invasion was the largest combined land, airand Naval Operation in history. Duncan kennedy has our first report on todays events in a moment. We have these pictures of parachutists landing we have these pictures of pa rachutists landing on we have these pictures of parachutists landing on the normandy beaches. Marking the 75th anniversary of the normandy landings, and the parachutists took pa rt landings, and the parachutists took part in one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War. As we look at these pictures, we tend to concentrate on what happened on the beaches, but what happened here was crucial. Yes, the operation for d day began shortly after midnight, when 6000 british and canadian paratroopers dropped in, and also american, a key operation to capture bridges, railwayjunctions, to stop any german advance into this beachhead they were trying to carve out. The da kota they were trying to carve out. The dakota aircraft, if you see them in the skies, synonymous with this particular action. Synonymous, very noisy. It was an extremely dealing operation they were trying to do. In some ways it went very wrong. The men landed, they did not know where they were, they lost their comrades, but they gathered themselves together in little bans and managed together in little bans and managed to fight their way and achieve what they had to achieve, notably the ca ptu re they had to achieve, notably the capture of pegasus bridge, it was British Forces that did that in the night. This reenactment is personnel, they have beenjumping for the last 10 15 minutes in considerable numbers. It will have been a remarkable sight for those in france watching this. Absolutely. Extraordinary. As it would have been for those few french civilians who saw it at the time, who must have realised, this must be it, the day we have been waiting for for years. Lots happening, not just we have been waiting for for years. Lots happening, notjust here, but also in northern france, where to morrow is the day of commemoration is, the 6th ofjune, their moment of the day itself. We can now hear this report from Duncan Kennedy. 75 years ago portsmouth was a waiting room for war. Today, space for memory laden recollection. At the time i had no idea it was as vicious as it was. From thousands, to hundreds, that number of veterans may be dwindling, but that pride they take and the respect they are given. I6 16 World Leaders are here to absorb the nostalgia and pay tribute. It was the second worst single day of losses for the United States in world war ii. Our sons, pride of our nation, this the have set upon a mighty endeavour, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilisation, and to set free a suffering humanity. While the great armada of ships bears down. The scale of the day was as breathtaking as its ambition. The grinding of keels on shingle. Troops, menaced by enemy gunfire. 156,000 troops, including the Royal Marines. We threw smoke bombs through the slits. Eric carter landed at dawn, 18 years old, and unknown enemy ahead, and undaunted belief in the mission. How frightening a day was d day . I do not know. Most of us were youngsters. It was like cowboys and indians to us. I cannot say i was really scared. Because how can you be scared when you do not know what is going to happen . The troop Landing Craft was packed to full capacity. There was no cover for the army. Just standing, sitting. Britain lost around 1500 men on d day. The Prime Minister reflected on that human cost by recalling the letter found on the body of a captain, written to his wife. My darling, this is a very difficult letter for his wife. My darling, this is a very difficult letterfor me to his wife. 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. 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 is 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. Those who survived the horrors of the normandy beaches, are now in their tenth decade, today that vast arc of time it was bridged with vivid memories. It is with humility and pleasure, on behalf of the entire country, indeed, the entire free world, that to you. Well meet again, dont know where, dont know when. Tributes and reflections. D day replied on planning, lack, timing, the momentum of history. The great enterprise of liberation to help bring the evil domination of nazism to an end. An extraordinarily powerful and emotive event today. None of the politics that we had yesterday. Just the humanity of commemoration. President trump himself will fly off to ireland now. He will bejoining all the other leaders here today in northern france for tomorrows main event where we are expected to see some very moving events. 300 veterans are marking the anniversary with a voyage to france, onboard a specially chartered cruise ship, the boudicca. Foi men who are now in their 90s, its a chance for them to reflect on theirjourney to the normandy beaches, and to commemorate the thousands of comrades who never returned. 0ur correspondent robert hall has been speaking to them as they gathered to remember. Jim grants d day began on board a Landing Craft lumbering through the surf towards the normandy beaches. 75 years older, he was afloat again, guest of the Royal Marines on a windswept ride across poole harbour. It would have taken us about four times as long. The boudiccas arrival in poole gave the 300 veterans and their companions a taste of what was to come on both sides of the channel. Makes you feel so proud and yet so humble at the same time. You feel humble . Can you imagine how i do . I dont deserve to be here. They are the heroes of d day. Everything that we are celebrating now, just really, really excited to be part of this and be with my grandad and have memories we can keep forever. 0n the quayside, men who had stumbled ashore weighed down with weapons and equipment, men who had helped supply the bridgehead, examined the tools of modern warfare. My goodness i couldnt have run with that. The excitement among veterans was infectious. Men in their 90s scrambling to get in on the action. Some could not quite believe they were here. Wished i could come here, but i thought i was past it, cant do that. Didnt think he would be able to make another voyage to normandy. We cannot comprehend what these ladies and gentlemen did for us, to give us our freedom. We have no comprehension. Not far away, curiosity of a different kind. It is humbling to hear what they remember so clearly and to then remember what that did for the rest of our lives, the rest of all of our lives thereafter, so they are amazing people. We are privileged to meet them today. Today the veterans disembarked where many of them bordered in 19114. They hope these commemorations will help pass on remembrance. It is very important to remember, because hitler might have took us over. |j suppose this will be the real last commemoration there will be. Everybody is getting so old. Soon we will all have disappeared. We have got children and grandchildren as well. They are interested. It should be remembered. A lot of people died where we are today. They may be dwindling in number but the survivors of the day will tell you it is their duty to be here. It is interesting. A lot of people are getting in touch with social media. This one. It reminds me of my grandfather who fought in the war in the pacific. A lot of you are feeling very personally about your own memories as you are watching what is happening in portsmouth. With me is historian giles milton. Many of the veterans have never described their experiences. Many of the stories has been written by the officer class, the generals, their stories have dominated, now, 75 years on, we are beginning to look at the stories of those who are in the front line, that young lads who landed into the heat of battle. I have been doing research and reading their letters and diaries. It sheds a different light on the horrors of that day. When i have had the pleasure of reporting on other anniversaries over the years, the thing that always strikes you as you walk along those beaches, along with the veterans, there tends to be their grandchildren, there tends to be youngsters with them, they are passing those stories on. It is so important that the youngsters learn about this. This was a pivotal day for the Second World War, and for all of us, for the freedom of europe. It is vital that they learn about this. Yet, this day, 75 years ago, there were hundreds of thousands of very, very frightened men, just over there, in the boats, waiting for a journey, they did know know what to expect. They were waiting, they were worried. They had a meeting on the weather, typical english weather, it caused the invasion to be postponed. They did not know what to expect. Many of them thought they would not come back alive. We are in portsmouth. But any city or town along the coast of england, there were soldiers everywhere. Soldiers everywhere, equipment everywhere. 0ne everywhere. Soldiers everywhere, equipment everywhere. One must remember, we are talking about d day. The aftermath of d day, their romance and months of supplies and men who were going to be landed in france. The entire south of england was like a sort of lorry park, full of men waiting to go there. Several million waiting to go there. It was interesting during the ceremony that we saw earlier, that that point was made, that building of the fuel line, the back up operation that was so line, the back up operation that was so crucial as well. Yes, the back up, logistics, science and Technology Behind it. Everything was invested in this operation, because both eisenhower and churchill knew that this could not fail. We know about the weather. There was a 24 hour delay. Then the signal from eisenhower, though. Go. And it is lodged. He knew that once he had launched the invasion it could not be stopped. This is why the weather was so be stopped. This is why the weather was so crucial. To get that window of opportunity, which would be just enough time to plant the men on the beaches, and crucially, that the aircraft could fly in the sky. It was not too cloudy. The letters that in your research you have been reading, there must be some Amazing Stories from that. Amazing stories of heroism, but also of tragedy. 0ne has to remember that these men witnessed terrible things, and they had no support in the aftermath of it. It was, go and have a strong cup of tea was the only support they got. They had to live with these memories for the rest of their lives. Some of them, as we can see, they are still alive and living with these memories every day. We are concentrating very much on the action at sea, but also the role of the raf and the parachutists was crucial, we had the sea assault on the beaches but there was a lot going on behind the enemy lines as well. Absolutely, key bridges, junctions, they had to be captured to stop in german advance into the beachhead. The germans wanted to drive the allies back into that sea as quickly as possible. We are looking at pictures of the queen who was talking to some of the veterans. As she said in the ceremony, she was there, she was part of it. It is her story as well. It is extraordinary to see her, and to hear her speech, talking to men at the same age as her. And to see donald trump, and the president of canada, and also Angela Merkel here. That was a remarkable thing to see, and what must have been going through her mind as well. A difficult one for her, but one must remember, we a lwa ys her, but one must remember, we always think of the die hard ss soldiers but they were terrified soldiers but they were terrified soldiers on the german side as well. A lot of people will have no idea of the scale of the operation. It was said that you could almost walk to the isle of wight because of that number of boats that were here. 70,000 ships, 12,000 planes, the world had never seen anything like this before. It was on an immense scale. You have met many of those who took part, do you think that Commemoration Services like the one we had this morning do them justice . It is vital that they are able to be celebrated as heroes. They did something remarkable on the 6th of june, notjust something remarkable on the 6th of june, not just the something remarkable on the 6th of june, notjust the 6th ofjune, many of them fought all the way into germany, they had months and months of warfare. We must remember that. The landing was not the end of it. It was the beginning, it was day one. Thank you very much for now. We are looking at pictures from normandy of more parachutists. It is a remarkable thing to see, particularly that. That will provoke so many memories for people in northern france of a certain age. Yes, and remember they are doing it in daylight. 0ur men on d day were doing it in the night, largely. Even more terrifying. And many of them had a specific Mission Everyone had a specific Mission Everyone had a specific mission. Yes, they we re had a specific mission. Yes, they were in bands and groups, but they got separated, it was a strong wind, they were landed, they lost their comrades, they had to form groups and dry and carry out actions, undertake actions. Just looking at the kit. The weight of everything that had to be carried. Things like that, unless you were around at the time, you had no idea. Of course, many men landed, sprayed their ankles, broke their legs, they were carrying so much equipment, they needed to carry on for the next few weeks. The bridges were crucial, certain towns were crucial. It did not go to plan, as we said. Difficult not to mention the huge losses on the beaches, particularly on the american position. Yes there was absolute slaughter there. The terrain there is particularly difficult. A long sandy beach which they have to run across while they are being machine gunned, then they have to scale the cliffs at the back of it, a very tricky operation. We mentioned the weather, there was this window of opportunity, shortly afterwards there was a terrible storm. Yes, on june 19, that actually broke up one of the harbours, completely destroyed that harbour. The weather was terrible that year. It was a very u nfortu nate was terrible that year. It was a very unfortunate year. Thank you very unfortunate year. Thank you very much for that. And those images coming in from normandy, but of course, very much coming in from normandy, but of course, very much the focus here in portsmouth with World Leaders here. And an array of vips who are here. The Royal Standard is still flying. The Royal Standard is still flying. The queen is still here talking to some of the veterans. Earlier i spoke to general nick carter, chief of the defence staff, he told me about the significance of commemorations of the day like this. It was a huge privilege to be able to watch it and a huge privilege to be able to watch it in the company of so many veterans. Why is it so important to commemorate d day . M was one of the most important battles that that generation lived through. It was a battle that gave us through. It was a battle that gave usa through. It was a battle that gave us a foothold in europe. It was a battle that ultimately led to the defeat of the nazi regime, in every way a decisive moment of world war ii. What were the lessons of it . The courage and bravery of those who took the beaches and establish the beachhead, also a very Important National enterprise because people who put on uniforms for a short period of time, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, pulled together a most remarkable plan. There was a huge amount of ingenuity and imagination that went into the plan. It was really quite a technical set of initiatives. And we have the most important people in the world here today, and yet, perhaps the most important people are those 300 veterans. Yes that is right that should be all about them. I have been privileged to be in the company of her majesty the queen, the president of the United States of america, talking to six of those, five gentlemen and one lady, and it was humbling to see how that engagement was, and how they were front and centre in terms of what they did. What sort of questions we re they did. What sort of questions were being asked . What they remembered. That is what this is all about. What they remembered, what their fears were at the time. And their fears were at the time. And the unifying thing you get from all of them, they did not want to let their mates down. General sir Nick Houghton are talking to me earlier. Now some pictures of the prince of wales. He has been talking to some of the veterans inside a huge hangar, just behind