Thursday, 6 June 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day – one of the most significant military operations in history.
Events and commemorations are taking place across the country to mark the 80th anniversary, and remember and honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
D-Day Flag of Peace
The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Medway Council and the Historic Dockyard Chatham will be marking the event with a short flag raising on Thursday, 6 June, where the D-Day Flag of Peace will be raised at the bow of HMS Cavalier.
Cavalier was launched in 1945, and although not involved in D-Day, she was involved in the conflict and is preserved at the dockyard as the National Destroyer Memorial to commemorate the 142 Destroyers lost in the conflict, and the estimated 11,000 lives lost on board.
Representatives from Medway’s armed forces community, the council and the dockyard will be joined by Brigadier Peter Gilbert QVRM TD DL VR, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Kent, who will speak about the importance of marking the anniversary and honouring the sacrifices made by previous generations.
Gun Wharf
To commemorate the historic day, the D-Day 80 Flag of Peace will also be flown at our Gun Wharf office in Chatham on Thursday, 6 June.
Rochester Cathedral
At 5.50pm on Thursday, 6 June, there will be a Choral Evensong commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day at Rochester Cathedral. The service is expected to finish by 6.20pm with the ringing of the cathedral bells to coincide with the National Bellringing for Peace.
Poem for Schools
Schools across the country are invited to come together at 11am for the reading of a special D-Day Heroes poem, written by Roy Palmer – Chelsea Pensioner and Herald at the Royal Hospital.
The poem can be found on page 18 of the D-Day Guide.
Their Finest Hour
The Their Finest Hour project is organised by a team based at the University of Oxford, and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which looked to collect and preserve everday stories and objects from the Second World War.
Last year, Medway Archives Centre was proud to be one of three locations in Kent to hold a digital collection day as part of the project. The team collected and processed the stories, and took images of the artefacts, so Medway’s wartime memories are included in the online archive.
Across the country, 73 digital collection day events were held across the UK in 2023 and 2024, recording and digitising thousands of Second World War stories and artefacts.
Their Finest Hour Online Archives launches on Monday, 6 June, and will be available to view for free.
National events
The UK national event
On Wednesday, 5 June, a national event will be held in Portsmouth, where thousands of members of the public will be invited to join D-Day veterans, armed forces personnel and VIP guests on Southsea Common.
The event will feature military musicians, a Royal Air Force flypast and moving tributes from special guests.
The event will be broadcast live across the UK.
D-Day 80 remembrance service at the National Memorial Arboretum
On Thursday, 6 June, the Royal British Legion will host a Remembrance Service at 2pm within the grounds of the National Memorial Arboretum. The Arboretum will be open as normal on 6 June, and all visitors are welcome to watch the D-Day 80 Service of Remembrance within the grounds.
You can find out more about the national D-Day 80 events on the government’s website.