D-Day campaigner in France for ceremony

A SHOREHAM man went to France to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the part his relatives played in the second world war.

By The Newsroom

Published 11th Jun 2014, 07:00 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 06:50 BST

Dropping on to Gold Beach at Arromanches for the D-Day commemorations

Neil Coppendale has waged a personal campaign in recent months, calling on the government to organise and fund national commemorations for D-Day, the largest seaborne invasion in history, as well as for VE Day next year.

He explained: “I feel very strongly in general that we must ‘remember them’, their sacrifice, sense of duty and bravery through five long years. We owe them everything.”

Mr Coppendale, of Church Green, Shoreham, headed to Arromanches, the Gold Beach landing zone on D-Day, for the official ceremony on Friday.

His campaign called for a national commemoration of D-Day at the time of the anniversary, as it was one of the last major anniversaries when veterans would be likely to be alive in some numbers. The anniversary of VE Day, he feels, is even more significant.

Read more in the Shoreham Herald on Thursday.

France Shoreham