Wanted: D-Day veterans for Normandy voyage
Written by News on 07/02/2019
D-Day veterans are being offered a free voyage to mark 75 years since the Normandy landings – with more than 100 spaces still up for grabs.
The British Legion is calling on friends or families of veterans to make sure the message is out about the fully paid-for trip on a chartered ship, which will carry former Allied soldiers across the Channel for the remembrance event in June.
Chelsea Pensioner George Skipper, 95, urged others to join him aboard the MV Boudicca, saying: “I would not miss this trip for anything.”
Mr Skipper, who was awarded the Legion d’Honneur in 2015 for his courage during the invasion on 6 June 1944, added: “D-Day was a very important time in my life and I want to go back whilst I can to remember and to pay tribute to the friends and comrades that I lost.
“I hope that all D-Day veterans who are able to travel can join me on board the ship for this important voyage.”
There are 125 seats left on the trip, with 175 out of 300 tickets taken so far.
D-Day 75 will see each veteran given door-to-door travel for themselves and a guest or carer.
The trip is funded by a grant from the British Legion, the Ministry of Defence and Arena Travel.
Applications close on Monday, 4 March and the ship will leave Dover on 2 June.
It will travel to events in Poole and Portsmouth, before crossing the Channel for commemorations in Normandy on 6 June.
The Normandy landings, referred to as D-Day, saw more than 150,000 British, American and Canadian troops land on the beaches of France, ahead of an invasion that led to the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation.
(c) Sky News 2019: Wanted: D-Day veterans for Normandy voyage
