D-Day 80: 'We cannot be more grateful for all that they did for us'

The affair was a grand one, with Donald Trump and the Queen in attendance, and Southsea Common was packed with guests and dignitaries, who were there to honour veterans. 

Five years before that, a similar large-scale event was held on the Common, with a veterans' centre set up so that they and their families could congregate during the commemorations. 

I remember being a reporter for The Portsmouth News for that occasion, and spending time in this marquee during the day talking to numerous veterans about their experiences.  

I also clearly remember standing and watching in awe as the Royal Navy and Royal Marines enacted a spectacular amphibious assault landing on the seafront.  

Then there was a display by the Red Arrows. It was a day packed full of joy and gratitude.  

The sun shone, medals were proudly displayed, and everyone left with a sense of great thanks for all contributed on that day.  

This year, the world's eyes are back on the city, as we mark 80 years. 

Being involved with these two events, in some way, and also spending many years living and working in Portsmouth, I often had chance to talk to veterans. It was great to hear their stories and I also took pride in helping share some of them in the local newspaper. Hopefully creating a permanent record of their lives, something that people can look up in years to come and read.  

In fact, one of my very first dalliances into reporting came when I was doing a project on World War II through school. My mum worked in a care home, and one of the elderly ladies there had clear memories of the war. So armed with a tape recorder (it was the 90s), I set about recording her story and documenting it. I remembered listening for hours that day, while she recounted her father being called up, and bombing raids.  

She was so proud to tell her story, that she told everyone else in the care home over the next few days, and then the next time I turned up at mum’s work, I had a queue of people waiting to be interviewed by me.  

They all proudly recounted their war efforts – and those of their loved ones.  

Needless to say the project was given top marks. This project and the wonderful feeling of listening to someone, finding out more about them, and then sharing their story, was probably the catalyst for where I am today (that and the ‘newspaper day’ in the IT suite circa 1995).  

Over the years I have had the pleasure of documenting a small part of some of what went on. And most of the people who I remember, like the loveable Bert Edwards, from North End, who came along to a LinkedIn Local event in Portsmouth aged 94, and Ted Burridge, from Fareham, who would proudly promote the Poppy Appeal in the town every year, are now gone.  

There is a bench in Ted’s memory in Fareham’s Tesco, which reminds me of his gentle stoic nature and big moustache.  

There are others too, probably too many to name, but all with stories of sacrifices so great. 

I was delighted however, to see one, former Royal Marine Keith Whiting, 98, who I spoke to at one of the Portsmouth D-Day events, still active and going on the trip to Normandy. He was pictured online recounting his story at the D-Day Museum in Southsea to serving RN, RM and RAF personnel.   

This year, as we mark 80 years since D-Day there are only a handful of D-Day veterans alive in this area. Charity Blesma estimate only around 100, potentially fewer, D-Day veterans still alive in this country today.  

At the next big anniversary, most likely most of these will have gone too.  

We cannot be more grateful for all that they did for us. It would be a totally different world if it were not for that day and their sacrifices.