'We give thanks for those who gave so much'

"WE are all eternally in their debt." In a moving speech that captured the nation's pride in our D-Day heroes, King Charles honoured their sacrifices to preserve our freedom 80 years on.

- Leo McKinstry

For once he was not the star, as he sat with Camilla, son William and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to pay tribute to our extraordinary surviving veteran servicemen and women at the main UK ceremonial event to mark the Normandy landings in Portsmouth.

The King's speech was absolutely word-perfect.

"As we give thanks for all those who gave so much to win the victory, whose fruits we still enjoy to this day, let us once again commit ourselves always to remember, cherish and honour those who served that day and to live up to the freedom they died for, by balancing rights with civic responsibilities to our country, for we are all eternally in their debt," he said.

He reminded the crowds that the Allied victory was a collective effort from those working in mines and in secret services back home.

Written exactly 80 years ago on the eve of the Normandy landings, the words of one British serviceman sum up the tremendous collective responsibility on the Allied forces about to go into battle.

In a letter to his wife and brother, Reginald Steel, a staff sergeant with the Glider Regiment, said: "Remember when you get this to be as proud as I feel myself at being chosen to help launch this drive to free the world of all its terror and hardship." His undaunted heroism and profound duty were typical of the fighting spirit in the vast formations assembled in southern England for the invasion in June 1944.

Those in the front line of this colossal assault were special men, motivated by the highest ideals of valour and self-sacrifice. They knew that the survival of liberty, democracy and even civilisation itself could be decided by their actions over the coming crucial days.