Heartfelt feeling of awe at what they achieved

FROM across the world they came, presidents and prime ministers, dignitaries and distinguished guests, crowned heads and corporate leaders.

- Leo McKinstry

But for once in their high-profile lives, they were not the stars of the event.

That accolade belonged to the small group of elderly figures, some of them in wheelchairs, others heavily stooped.

But despite their physical infirmities, they exuded a sense of moral grandeur due to the heroic example of selflessness and duty they had set when they stormed the beaches of northern France exactly eight decades ago.

Running through all the commemorations in Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day has been a heartfelt feeling of awe at what they had achieved through their courage and determination.

The desire to honour the veterans was perfectly articulated by the King, both in his speech at the National Commemoration in Portsmouth on Wednesday and in his address for the remembrance ceremony in Ver-sur-Mer yesterday, where the British War Memorial is inscribed with the names of the 22,442 heroes who fell during the invasion while under British command.

With his poetic soul, his deep sensitivity and love of history, he found just the right words for each occasion.

Having spoken in Portsmouth of the debt we owe, in Normandy he said: "It is with a most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all those who served at this critical time," adding that they "did not flinch" at the supreme test, but performed their duties with a "humbling sense of resolve and determination,qualities so characteristic of that remarkable wartime generation".

The King's stirring eloquence emphasised the wisdom of his decision to play a full part in the 80th anniversary, despite his recent experience of cancer.

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His tribute could not have been more just.

On the first day of this gargantuan assault, more than 156,000 troops had landed.