D-Day heroes and their families back concert at the Royal Albert Hall to commemorate next year’s 80th anniversary
- Proceeds from the concert will support the British Normandy Memorial
D-Day veterans and their families last night saluted a concert to commemorate next year’s 80th anniversary as an ‘important’ tribute to those who fought and died for our freedoms.
A star-studded evening of music, pageantry and remembrance will be held at the Royal Albert Hall in central London next year, exactly 80 years after the Normandy landings by the Allies on June 6, 1944, which marked the beginning of the end of the Second World War.
The concert, called D-Day 80: Remembering the Normandy Landings, and accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, is among a range of plans already in motion for the anniversary.
Praising the concert – for which Mail readers can get special ‘early bird’ access to tickets – D-Day veteran Ken Hay, 98, said it was a ‘lovely idea’ for ‘people to go to all that trouble’ and that it would be a ‘wonderful’ way to commemorate the anniversary – which, he suggested, would have even greater poignancy this year. He said: ‘I think this will be the last commemoration, there won’t be any after this, there won’t be anybody left.’
Mr Hay’s son Chris, 67, said: ‘It is important that people remember, because of where you are now, what you are able to do, these guys made these sacrifices.’
D-Day veterans and their families last night saluted a concert to commemorate next year’s 80th anniversary as an ‘important’ tribute to those who fought and died for our freedoms
A star-studded evening of music, pageantry and remembrance will be held at the Royal Albert Hall in central London next year
The event will be held exactly 80 years after the Normandy landings by the Allies on June 6, 1944, which marked the beginning of the end of the Second World War
After the war, Mr Hay, of Upminster, in east London, was made an MBE and awarded France’s highest honour, the Legion d’Honneur. He plans to travel with Chris and daughter-in-law Shirley, 66, to France for next year’s events.
Proceeds from the Albert Hall concert will support the British Normandy Memorial which overlooks Gold Beach and is etched with the names of all 22,442 Britons killed in the battles in Normandy. It was opened in 2021 thanks, in part, to the donations and passion of thousands of Mail readers. Mr Hay is an ambassador for the memorial.
Normandy veteran Mervyn Kersh, 98, of Barnet, North London, said events such as the concert were ‘very moving’ and were a reminder that ‘I didn’t waste the early part of my life in the Army’.
For the special Mail ‘early-bird’ tickets and further details, visit www.dday80.org and enter code MAIL80 at the checkout. To donate to the memorial, visit www.britishnormandymemorial.org
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