A debt we can never repay: Britain honours remarkable Second World War veterans including 104-year-old Legion dhonneur recipient as they pay emotional tribute to their fallen comrades at Remembrance Sunday memorial
Second World War veterans have been paying emotional tribute to fallen comrades at todays Remembrance Sunday commemorations.
Second World War veterans have been paying emotional tribute to fallen comrades at todays Remembrance Sunday commemorations.
Among those paying their respects in central London today, at an event led by the King and watched by the Princess of Wales, was a 104-year-old war heroine whose awards include Frances highest - the Legion dhonneur.
Christian Lamb had been given the prestigious prize on June 6 this year, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, at the UKs commemoration event in Ver-sur-Mer in Normandy.
She was not the only centenarian taking part today, with others there including 101-year-old Joe Randall and Michael Woods, 100.
And also lining up on Horse Guards Parade, near Whitehall, ahead of the Cenotaph ceremony were 99-year-olds Alec Penstone and Mervyn Kersh.
Christian Lamb, 104, was one of 11 Second World War veterans in London for todays Remembrance Sunday commemorations
Also there was former Royal Air Force seviceman Joe Randall, 101
Michael Woods, 100, said he was so proud to take part in the march past the Cenotaph
Emotions were running high and tears fell as an estimated 10,000 veterans gathered in central London for the Royal British Legions march past the Cenotaph.
Thousands more members of the public lined the streets to mark the occasion, joining in a two-minute silence at 11am and honouring those who served and have survived as well as those who died fighting for their country.
Mrs Lamb appeared taken aback by how many people had turned out in the capital for todays commemorations, in scenes she described as unbelievable and extraordinarily moving.
She told the BBC: So many hundreds and hundreds of people - you cant believe there are so many in London, let alone the world.
When told by presenter Sophie Raworth she was one of only 11 Second World War veterans there, she replied: Id like to meet the other 10.
And when asked what she was thinking when taking part in the procession past the Cenotaph, Mrs Lamb said: It was so extraordinarily moving - that all those people, young creatures probably about 17 or 18 some of them, who died there. There they all were.
All these years later, were watching an extraordinary situation - being able to say thank you to them for their sacrifice which was so sad.
Mrs Lamb (pictured) was one of the skilled women who served in the Womens Royal Naval Service, better known as the Wrens, to help prepare detailed plans for D-Day
Edinburgh-born Mrs Lamb dropped out of Oxford University to take up a position with the Wrens, painstakingly creating detailed maps to guide the crews of landing craft to shore
French president Emmanuel Macron pinned the highest honour France can bestow, the Legion dhonneur, on the navy cardigan of Second World War veteran Christian Lamb in June this year
To think, there must be so many of them - but at least there were a lot of them who came to say thank you, and that was good.
She had been posted in secret to Whitehall in London at the start of 1944, and created detailed maps that guided the crews of landing craft on D-Day.
Mrs Lamb, who was born in Edinburgh and now lives in London, was from a naval background - her father was Rear Admiral Ronald Wolsley Oldham, and served on battleships in the First World War.
At the age of 19, she joined the Womens Royal Naval Service instead of taking up her place at Oxford University and and later helped in the planning of the D-Day landings from Churchills war room in London.
As a plotting and operations officer in the Battle of the Atlantic, she charted the progress of convoys crossing the Atlantic Ocean amid constant danger from German U-boats.
At last Junes D-Day ceremony honouring Mrs Lamb, French President Emmanuel Macron bent down to pin the Legion dhonneur medal on her, before kissing the war hero on both cheeks.
Mrs Lamb had been posted in secret to Whitehall in London at the start of 1944, and created detailed maps that guided the crews of landing craft on D-Day.
She later took on a similar role in Belfast, plotting the movements of convoys that carried supplies from North America.
Among those on Horse Guards Parade ahead of todays procession in central London were 99-year-old military veterans Alec Penstone (left) and Mervyn Kersh (right)
Royal Navy service personnel took part in this mornings parade along Whitehall
An estimated 10,000 military veterans were in London for todays commemorative events
That included staffing her post as the news came in that a convoy escorted by her future husbands ship, the destroyer HMS Oribi, had been attacked by a U-boat wolf pack.
Mr Macron told her at the ceremony in June this year: You were, in your own way, among those figures in the shadow of D-Day.
You were not there in person but you guided each step they took.
Also present at todays commemorations in London alongside Mrs Lamb was 101-year-old Joe Randall, who served in the RAF.
He had arrived in France shortly after D-Day in 1944, given the challenge of constructing an airstrip from scratch in fields near Caen to help RAF aircraft support the British Armys advance.
And another veteran attending todays event in London was a blind 100-year-old veteran has said he felt 10ft tall as he marched past the Cenotaph for the first time.
Michael Woods, from Dunstable in Bedfordshire, paraded with more than 40 other blind veterans supported by the charity Blind Veterans UK.
The Second World War vet joined the RAF after being called up for service in 1943, training as an aircraft mechanic.
Pictured left to right are Second World War veterans Jim Grant, Stan Ford and Henry Rice
Second World War veterans (left to right) Joe Randall, Jim Grant, Stan Ford, Henry Rice, Alec Penstone and Mervyn Kersh pose on the Horse Guards Parade ahead of this mornings march
Chelsea Pensioners were pictured on Westminster Bridge on Remembrance Sunday today
Mr Woods said he was so proud to have finally marched in Whitehall, according to a release from the charity.
He said: What an amazing experience, Ive never felt anything quite like it.
The crowds cheering for us as we made our way around made me feel 10ft tall.
Im so proud to have finally marched here in my 100th year. Its such an honour. And it was all the sweeter knowing that my wife and family were watching me on TV.
Mr Woods served at RAF Coningsby and Skellingthorpe, both in Lincolnshire, where he was with 61 Squadron and working primarily on Lancaster bomber planes.
He recalled: As a mechanic, I wasnt meant to be in the planes flying but used to do so quite often.
It was illegal, of course, but I remember that the crew would always say that if the mechanic is happy to fly with us then he must be pretty confident in the plane.
Mr Woods was sent to Palestine after the war, seeing out his service there and taking opportunities to explore the surrounding area, including driving to Egypt to tour the pyramids and Valley of the Kings.
Michael Woods, among the veterans taking part today, is pictured here in a Lancaster bomber during his Second World War service
Crowds gathered near the Monument to the Women of World War II in London today
Poppy wreaths were carried by veterans attending the march past the Cenotaph
He was discharged in 1947 with the rank of Leading Aircraftman, then lost his sight later in life because of age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.
He said: My sight started to go gradually because of the glaucoma at first but I remember having just driven back from the West Country, I got pneumonia and had to go to hospital and after that my vision had got a lot worse.
I was driving until I was 94 but couldnt do so after that. Thats the thing I missed the most. Id driven since I was a young man in the RAF and it felt like Id lost my independence.
Meanwhile, a 99-year-old Royal Navy veteran said today he was thinking on Remembrance Sunday of the men on his ship who never came home.
Stan Ford served on HMS Fratton, which escorted ships taking people back to the UK and was stationed off Selsey Bill on the south coast on D-Day.
Weeks later, on August 18 1944, Mr Ford suffered lifelong injuries when the ship was sunk by what is believed to have been a midget submarine off the Normandy coast - 38 members of the crew were rescued but 31 were killed.
Mr Ford has had to walk with leg callipers ever since and fractured his spine due to the force of the explosion.
Speaking in Horse Guards Parade after the Royal British Legions march past the Cenotaph, Mr Ford said: Its always a great honour to be back on occasions like this but I remember the guys that never came home on my ship when it was torpedoed.
Veterans were seen massing near Horse Guards Patades Guards Memorial this morning
D-Day veteran Joe Randall is pictured here at the events 80th anniversary commemorations at Southsea Common in Portsmouth on June 5 this year
Stan Ford, 99, pictured today at Horse Guards Parade in London, served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War
They never came home, and I always feel its my duty to put in an appearance and thank God for those that did survive, and to pray for the ones who didnt.
Mr Ford, who lives in Bath, added: I thank God every day that on the day the boat was sinking that I wasnt strapped in.
The veteran gives talks to primary schoolchildren to tell them of his experience and the importance of avoiding future wars.
Mr Ford, who is an ambassador for the British Normandy Memorial, said: I ask the children as they grow old, not to forget, but to remember what the veterans done, and to endeavour to see if they have a possibility of avoiding it in the future to do so.
It was a terrible thing for a lot of people.
While a teenager, Mr Ford worked as a runner delivering messages for air raid wardens during the Blitz in Bristol, and subsequently served in the Home Guard.
The veteran turns 100 in May and said he thought the King would remember the occasion after they met in Normandy earlier this year.
Mr Ford said: I think the King will remember me because in Normandy in June, the King came by where we were sitting in a big marquee with a lot of veterans on the tables - they were there having their morning coffee and a bun.
Tower Bridge in London was lit up in red today to mark Remembrance Sunday
Stan Ford, 99, gives a wave after taking part in this mornings march past the Cenotaph
The King placed a wreath at the Cenotaph before saluting as part of todays ceremony
The King and the Queen came by and we had two chairs vacant on my table. One was by the side of me, and the King came and sat down and we started nattering.
Then he asked me how old I was, and I said, "I was 99, sir". He said, "Oh, when I go home, I must get your card out and start filling it in". He was a very genuine person.
Mr Ford said that all veterans remember our family in our own way and there was no need for any government interference to change how people should commemorate Remembrance Sunday in the future.
He said: Im 99 and a half - and, well, they say that in 10 years time, there wont be a veteran around.
In my particular case, on the mantelshelf, Ive got a photo of the whole family - all of us. And I look at that every day and wish the boys the very best.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in the Second World War and the 25th anniversary of the end of the war in Kosovo.
It also comes alongside the 75th anniversary of Nato and the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale between the UK and France.
More than 800 sailors, soldiers and aviators were on duty on Remembrance Sunday, representing their services at the Cenotaph and at commemorative services at Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral.
The Princess of Wales watched from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office HQ
Poppy wreaths were placed by royals, politicians and representatives of the services
Princess Catherine was joined on the FCO balcony by Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh
Princess Catherine watched todays Whitehall event from above, on the nearby Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office balcony in central London, alongside Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh.
The Princess appeared emotional as she quietly closed her eyes in remembrance, bowing her head in respect.
In a touching moment following the ceremony, the Duchess of Edinburgh could be seen laying a tender hand on her shoulder as they left the balcony together.
Last night the Princess of Wales - who has been receiving treatment for cancer - attended the Festival of Remembrance ceremony at Londons Royal Albert Hall, alongside her husband William.
