91Èȱ¬

D-Day on the 91Èȱ¬

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National television

D-Day (91Èȱ¬ ONE)

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It was the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving over 156,000 troops. But how did it really feel to take part in D-Day?

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Based entirely on historical fact and veterans' stories, this two-hour drama tells first hand the untold and extraordinary tales of the everyday men and women who made D-Day possible.

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Using archive footage, drama reconstruction, profiles of key historic figures, in addition to interviews with surviving English, American, French and German veterans, the film maps the events that led up to the most historic invasion in history and allows viewers to experience something of the courage, terror and carnage of the battle itself.

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Each character featured has a part to play in the narrative - their individual stories merging as the assault on the Normandy beaches begins - thereby piecing together the vast jigsaw of planning, events, tragic heroism and lucky coincidences that encompass D-Day.

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D-Day brings to life not only key military leaders such as Eisenhower and Rommel, but also the ordinary men and women caught up in the drama of the invasion - from Allied intelligence deception operations and the daring master plan, codenamed Operation Overlord, to its execution, the assault on the beaches of Normandy.

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The men of the 9th Parachute Battalion knew their mission would be crucial but had little idea how crucial.

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Their orders were to disable the Merville gun battery, which was pointed directly at key D-Day landing beaches. If they had failed, Allied causalities would have been catastrophic.

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This heroic attack is told by three key men who lived through it.

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Leading the Battalion was Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway. One of his officers, Lieutenant Alan Jefferson, was in charge of a platoon of men that included 18 year-old Private Sid Capon.

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On landing in Normandy Otway discovered that 80 percent of his men were missing. "I had a choice, didn't I? Give up or go on. Could you face your friends? Could you have them pointing at you saying, 'Oh he gave up'. No. So I decided to go and we went."

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Bill Farmer and Bob Littlar were firm friends from the King's Shropshire Light Infantry who found themselves making their way to Sword beach in the second wave of the attack.

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They knew they may not survive but vowed to stay together. They survived the beaches, but experienced a counter offensive from the German 21 Panzer division on the way to liberate Caen.

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They remained at Bieville outside the city for a month, enduring terrible conditions. Their story is one of the everyday solider and the unbelievable hardships they suffered.

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"... You've become a man all of a sudden," states Bill Farmer, "and it's a nightmare, an absolute nightmare."

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As a member of the French Resistance, Andre Heintz had been waiting for D-Day for many years.

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Once the Allied bombing began he made his way to the hospital in Caen to see how he could help. Fearing that the hospital would also be bombed, he dipped bed sheets in pails of blood and created a giant red cross to warn Allied aircraft to steer clear.

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He no doubt saved hundreds of lives with this one act of incredible foresight and bravery. His account of D-Day gives a new insight into the work of the French Resistance, allowing the viewer to experience what it was like to be in occupied territory when the landings began.

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Franz Gockel was a 20-year-old German gunner deployed on Omaha beach.

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At 5.30am on the morning of D-Day approaching ships began shelling his position; once the invasion began he stayed at his post firing his machine gun for six hours.

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To him, the wave upon wave of Allied troops was a terrifying sight; he was sure he was going to die. "I've told people I was praying a lot during the attack and one of the Americans that I am now friends with today said 'we were also praying'. We were praying and killing each other at the same time."

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These and many more incredible true stories combine with special effects and original locations in both France and the UK to enhance the realism of the drama.

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Interviews, audio galleries and moving personal testimonies from the veterans featured in the drama can be found online at bbc.co.uk/ww2 and via the red button on the interactive service.

D-Day is a Dangerous Films production for 91Èȱ¬ ONE.

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There is a book to accompany the programme, together with a DVD and VHS tape. (EF/CC).

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D-Day To Berlin (91Èȱ¬ ONE)

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In the months leading up to D-Day, General Eisenhower made a £5 bet with Field Marshal Montgomery that the war would be over by Christmas.

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D-Day To Berlin is a new three-part series recounting the Allies' struggle from the beaches of Normandy, to their ultimate victory in Germany nearly one year later.

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It is the story of how, and why, Eisenhower lost his bet.

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In the days following the D-Day landings, Allied troops carved a tenuous foothold on the coast of Normandy.

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But as occupied Europe waited expectantly, the Allies still faced the real possibility of defeat and even annihilation.

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Monty was a highly experienced soldier, the hero of the battle of El Alamein; Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander with ultimate authority to direct the vast resources of the allied war machine.

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D-Day To Berlin uses testimony from veterans, archive footage and drama reconstruction to throw new light on the tensions between the two men, the highs and lows of life of the soldiers who fought for them and the strategic decisions they took which were to alter the very fabric and shape of post-war Europe.

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D-Day To Berlin comes from the team responsible for the award-winning 91Èȱ¬ series The Nazis and The Battle Of the Atlantic.

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It is shot on location in Europe and America.

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Programme One – The Struggle To Break-out

The battle for the beaches had been won, and the narrow sliver of French coastline gained on D-Day was slowly extending.

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But the optimism born of the successful D-Day landings quickly began to fade as the Allies confronted a skilful enemy who was determined to throw them back into the sea.

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British troops became trapped in a terrible battle of attrition reminiscent of the grim battles of the First World War.

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Sixty thousand men were killed or wounded in the first three weeks of the campaign.

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By the end of June a million men were caught in a grim struggle in the wheat fields and hedgerows of Normandy.

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Monty was obliged to crack down on a strange new sickness that appeared to be gripping his men – 'Tiger Fever' - as they faced the Germans' superior Tiger tanks.

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It was not Allied ground forces that finally broke Hitler's elite SS divisions in Normandy but Allied air power.

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By the end of August 1944, Allied victory seemed assured.

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Rommel had been wounded and his replacement, Field Marshal von Kluge, had committed suicide.

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Hitler was directing the battle and, despite hysterical demands for self-sacrifice, the German army was in full retreat.

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Programme Two – Allies At War

Hitler's armies were in headlong retreat. Paris was liberated in August, Brussels in the first week of September.

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Only one thing stood between the Allies and the German border - the Allied generals themselves.

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Allies At War looks at how the most basic debate remained unsolved – how to conquer Germany itself.

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Personality differences and radical disagreements in strategy threatened to create a rift between Eisenhower and Montgomery and burst the alliance open.

Until autumn 1944 the direction of the land campaign had been Montgomery's responsibility but, on 1 September, the Allied Supreme Commander, Eisenhower, announced he would take personal control of the armies in the field.

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Monty was convinced that only a single powerful British-led thrust into Germany would finish the war and, in an effort to force Eisenhower (Ike) into supporting him, launched the ill-fated drive towards the Rhine - Arnhem.

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Ike's Generals, Bradley and Patton, insisted the advance into Germany should be on a broad front and that the final victory should be led by an American.

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Eisenhower chose the broad front and, by spreading Allied troops too thinly, he turned hope of an early victory into a pipe dream.

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Using eye-witness testimony and first-hand written sources, Allies At War pieces together the bitter behind-the-scenes struggle over strategy.

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It revisits Monty's disastrous defeat at Arnhem, where more than 10,000 British soldiers were dropped into occupied Holland to capture a vital bridge over the Rhine.

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Archive and drama sequences also capture the bitter and bloody Battle of the Bulge – the German counter-offensive which punched a hole through Eisenhower's broad front.

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Monty's leadership of two American armies would help to reverse an embarrassing and costly defeat.

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As 1945 approached, Monty reminded Eisenhower of the bet he'd made that the war would be over by Christmas. It was time for Ike to pay up.

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Programme Three – Unconditional Surrender

"The only answer to total war is total defeat and total occupation," President Roosevelt warned the German people.

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This warning was to set the tone for the final months of destruction that would leave Europe torn apart.

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Hitler's last great offensive in the Ardennes failed. With British and American armies poised to cross the Rhine in the west, and Soviet forces advancing towards the River Oder in the east, there was only one offer on the table for Germany - unconditional surrender.

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The Allies would not negotiate with a country that had plunged Europe into war twice in 30 years.

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A new world order would have to emerge, one based on democracy and freedom.

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But for Goebbels unconditional surrender was a propaganda gift - evidence that the last battle must be fought for the survival of the German 'folk'.

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And the Allies seemed to be prepared to go to any lengths to secure their victory.

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In Feburary, two nights of bombing reduced the city of Dresden to rubble, and Roosevelt and Stalin already agreed a plan to divide post-war Germany.

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The Western Allies seemed prepared to trust and make common cause with Stalin to the end.

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Goebbels predicted that the dream of a new world order would leave Europe divided by an 'iron curtain'.

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Unconditional Surrender offers interviews with German veterans who resisted the Allied advance and who tell of their willingness to fight on to the bitter end.

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Berlin was left to Stalin and on 16 April the Russians began their final assault on the city.

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Fourteen days later, Hitler was dead, and the streets were commanded by a new army.

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Even before the victory celebrations were over, a new chill had gripped the alliance.

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The unconditional surrender of Germany had given birth to a new European order – but it was dominated by Stalin.

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D-Day To Berlin is a 91Èȱ¬ production for 91Èȱ¬ ONE.

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There is a book to accompany the series. (CC/EF)

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Live Coverage and News

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Throughout the first week of June on 91Èȱ¬ ONE and TWO, Huw Edwards anchors D-Day 60, 91Èȱ¬ Television's extensive live coverage of the D-Day commemoration events in the UK and Normandy.

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Nick Vaughan-Barratt, Executive Editor of 91Èȱ¬ Events, said: "Of all the poignant national and international events we've been privileged to cover in recent years, this anniversary will be perhaps the most evocative and symbolic.

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"Everyone involved on that June day 60 years ago lost friends and loved ones in the cause of liberating France and bringing the horrors of World War Two to a close, and they will never forget the suffering so many went through."

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D-Day 60, 1–4 June (91Èȱ¬ ONE & TWO)

In the week leading up to the anniversary, Huw Edwards presents a special 91Èȱ¬ ONE daily daytime programme live from the very place where the final stages of the D-Day campaign were planned.

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Southwick House was used as General Eisenhower's secret headquarters; Huw will be talking to special guests and veterans about the build-up to D-Day and the invasion itself.

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Each day Hugh and his team of experts and reporters will paint a picture of life in Britain five years into World War Two and tell the story of the build-up to D-Day.

Rageh Omaar goes Behind Enemy Lines to reveal the characters of the German commanders and investigate their military tactics;

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Sandhurst-trained ex-paratrooper and 91Èȱ¬ ONE news presenter Darren Jordon plans to put his Jamaican military experience to the test and jump in commemoration of the famous airborne assault on Pegasus Bridge;

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a presenter of 91Èȱ¬ TWO's Crafty Tricks of War, Dick Strawbridge, shows viewers some of the cunning trickery used during World War Two to outmanoeuvre the enemy;

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and cameras follow veterans of the US 29th Division as they tour the West Country to revisit the camps and beaches where there they prepared for the invasion.

On Tuesday 1 June there is a live link from HMS Belfast, the last surviving UK battleship to take part on D-Day, and some of the men who served on the ship on the day itself.

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On Wednesday 2 June the theme is Intelligence and Deception, with live reports from Bletchley Park, the secret HQ where German codes were broken.

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Thursday's programme looks at the last-minute preparations for D-Day itself; the training of an invasion force of over two million; and how they were prepared for action and eventually moved into sealed camps ready for H-Hour.

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To demonstrate the massive effects of the D-Day planning on the South of England, there is a live visit to the abandoned village of Tyneham in Dorset where, in 1943, the villagers were given one month to vacate their homes so the village and its surrounding land could be used for vital military training.

Also on Thursday on 91Èȱ¬ TWO at 4.00pm James Naughtie introduces around 500 veterans who, led by the band of HM Marines, will march past The Prince of Wales.

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The band will then perform a traditional Beating Retreat in front of those who took part 60 years ago and the crowds on Southsea Common.

On Friday 4 June, Huw and his team move to France to see the build-up to the commemorative events of D-Day 60, visiting the cemetery at Bayeux, Pegasus Bridge and the seaside town of Arromanches, where UK veterans of D-Day will march past HM The Queen.

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D-Day 60 – Sunday 6 June

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From a studio overlooking the beaches where British troops first landed 60 years ago, Huw Edwards presents 91Èȱ¬ ONE's extensive live coverage of the weekend's commemorative events in Normandy.

He is joined by acclaimed D-Day historian Sir Max Hastings and by Major General Julian Thompson, who, as commander of 3 Brigade in the Falklands War, planned the landings and fought the majority of the land battles; he is now visiting professor in War Studies at King's College London and regularly writes and broadcasts on defence and military matters.

Live coverage takes viewers right to the heart of the day's ceremonies and reflects the emotions and memories of the veterans who, 60 years on, are making perhaps their last-ever pilgrimage.

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From all over the United Kingdom and from as far away as Canada, New Zealand and the United States, men and women now in their eighties and nineties are returning to remember with pride and with honour.

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Service of Remembrance, Bayeux

"We, once conquered by William, have now set free the Conqueror's native land."

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So reads the inscription above the memorial at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Bayeux, where almost 4,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen lie buried.

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A further 1,800 have no known grave and are remembered on a memorial to the missing.

The day's live coverage begins in the peace and calm of the cemetery.

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Here, in the shadow of the great medieval cathedral, The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, the Prime Minister and President Chirac will attend a service of remembrance for all those who died on D-Day and during the Normandy campaign.

More than 8,000 veterans and their families are expected to gather around the headstones, among them the Sherwood Rangers who reached Bayeux in the last few hours of D-Day.

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Today's survivors will remember their comrades who died liberating the town.

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Cameras follow childhood sweethearts Amy and Nobby Newell as they visit the cemetery and mourn the loss of comrades and family.

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International Commemorative Event

"You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade. The eyes of the world are upon you." General Eisenhower's D-Day message to the Allied troops.

Sixty years on, that spirit is remembered and celebrated as 15 Heads of State participate in a ceremony which will commemorate the values the veterans fought for.

As well as The Queen, President Bush will attend and, for the first time ever, Chancellor Schroeder of Germany has been invited to mark the D-Day commemorations.

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Pegasus Bridge

Travelling 5,000 miles from his home in Vancouver, Jim Wallwork says "we weren't extraordinary, we were just doing a job."

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That job involved piloting a flimsy wood and canvas plane to land just yards from vital bridges that needed to be secured before the seaborne invasion got under way, with just moonlight to guide them.

Among those paying tribute to all the Airborne Forces is The Prince of Wales, who is Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment and the Army Air Corps.

Reporter Darren Jordon will be at Pegasus Bridge, talking to veterans of the British 6th Airborne Division.

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Darren, ex-Sandhurst and Jamaican Defence Forces with almost 200 successful jumps behind him, will be hearing the memories of the veterans who parachuted into Normandy in the first few minutes of Operation Overlord.

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British National Event, Arromanches

Sixty years ago the people of the tiny seaside town of Arromanches welcomed their liberators.

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Radio 4's James Naughtie commentates as 10,000 British Normandy veterans are cheered once again by the townspeople.

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Led by a military band and with standards flying, they march onto the town square.

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The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will receive the salute and later The Queen is expected to address the assembled veterans.

With the veterans throughout the afternoon will be ex-soldier-turned-TV presenter Dick Strawbridge. (ED'A)

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Songs Of Praise

In a special Songs Of Praise for D-Day on 91Èȱ¬ ONE on Sunday 6 June, Huw Edwards meets Ron Picken, a Normandy veteran from Wolverhampton.

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Ron was training to be a Baptist lay preacher when he decided that his duty was to his country and he joined the army.

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He became a Bren gunner and was taught to kill - a far cry from his Christian pacifist background.

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At the Old Malton Priory, in North Yorkshire, Songs Of Praise recreates a Forties church congregation.

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Music includes some of the well-loved hymns that meant so much to people on the home front, including For All The Saints and I Vow To Thee My Country.

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The programme also visits Eden Camp, near Malton, to re-enact scenes from the home front in 1944.

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Performances come from Peter Skellern, playing a song he wrote specially for Songs Of Praise, Libera, the Mark Gillbanks Swing Orchestra and The Cupcakes.

D-DAY ON THE 91Èȱ¬: