US heroes of D-Day honoured

A SERVICE to remember United States servicemen who left Plymouth on June 2, 1944, was held next to the Tamar Bridge yesterday.

- CLARE AINSWORTH

Standard bearers representing all of the organisations which make up the Federation of Plymouth and District Ex-Services Association joined civic dignitaries, military veterans and others for the comemoration of the 80th anniversary of troops leaving Saltash Passage to board the boats for Normandy- and D-Day.

In stark contrast to the cold and wet weather of June 1944, which forced the D-Day landings to be delayed by a day to June 6, the gathering at the US Memorial took place in brilliant sunshine yesterday morning.

The service was held at the Tamar Bridge Car Park, which was the location of one of the camps where US servicemen prepared for the Normandy invasion.

Opening the service, Reverend Martin Clements said: "Today we remember the sailors of the US Navy, whose camp stood here on this very site, and the soldiers of the US Army who marched down this hill 90 years ago and departed from the River Tamar below for the Normandy beaches, including the men of the 29th Infantry Division - the Blues and Grays.