So proud...on parade once again in land they liberated

IT started with a lone piper - just as it did at the exact moment the invasion began in 1944.

- Giles Sheldrick

Kilted Commando Bill Millin became part of folklore aged 21 when he played Highland Laddie as thousands stormed Gold Beach.

Yesterday the same stirring tune rang out at 7.25am as Pipe Major Trevor Macey-Lillie was driven ashore on a DUKW amphibious vehicle.

Trevor, from the 19th Regiment Royal Artillery (The Scottish Gunners), said: "Taking the same footsteps as Bill had done all those years ago to boost the morale of all these troops...I'm totally humbled and privileged."

It marked the start of an extraordinary day of remembrance in Arromanches for those who fell fighting for freedom and old soldiers returning to northern France to honour their sacrifice.

The resort remains a hugely significant location and symbolic pilgrimage site for both veterans and the families of those who perished there and on the landing beaches along the coast.

It is where the Allies built two prefabricated concrete ports known as Mulberry harbours - which were used to bring reinforcements and remain in the water as ghostly reminders of the biggest seaborne invasion in history.