Beach warriors' salute

RETURNING to the spot where giants fell, some of the last heroes of the greatest generation proudly salute their pals.

- By Giles Sheldrick

D-Day warriors Ken Hay, Jim Grant, Richard Aldred, Henry Rice and John Dennett — the Famous Five — returned to Sword Beach yesterday.

The poignant gesture on the eve of the 81st anniversary of the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France was a chance to remember their comrades.

It was here on June 6, 1944, that tens of thousands of soldiers scrambled ashore amid a ferocious volley of fire.

For the band of brothers who returned — all recipients of France’s highest order of merit the Legion of Honour — it was an overwhelming moment.

They took centre stage at a moving open-air service in the centre of a coastal town known as Colleville-sur-Orne until it was renamed Colleville-Montgomery in honour of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery who commanded the invasion.

Under a statue of his heroic grandfather, Henry, the current Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, led a dedication and wreath-laying service.

Addressing the D-Day lionhearts he described them as the “last living witnesses” of the fight for freedom.