New Zealand Defence Force
Te Ope Kaatua O Aotearoa
New Zealand and British veterans who took part in the Normandy landings will attend a commemorative service to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day at the National War Memorial in Wellington at 11.00am on Sunday 7 June.
Honorary Life President of the Normandy Veterans Association of New Zealand (NVANZ) David Christison will lay a commemorative wreath on behalf of all past and present members of the Wellington NVANZ.
Operation Overlord, on June 6 1944, is the largest amphibious military operation in history. As dawn broke on D-Day thousands of Allied soldiers hit the Normandy beaches and stormed ashore, and by midnight over 150,000 troops had been safely landed. The landing of Allied Forces on the French channel coast spearheaded the campaign to liberate Western Europe from Nazi Germany.
No New Zealand ground forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, however around 10,000 Royal New Zealand Air Force and Navy personnel served with the British ships and air force squadrons which supported the D-Day landings.
Worldwide only a few of those involved remain and many of the 83 branches of the Normandy Veterans Associations will disband after the 65th anniversary. “However the NVANZ and a small number of branches overseas will carry on as per the wishes of their members,” said Mr Christison.
Among the veterans attending on Sunday will be Maurice Mayston of NZ 485 Spitfire Squadron, who now lives in Lower Hutt.
Mr Mayston remembers being shot at by the Germans. “I soon discovered when I heard clicks and dongs on my aircraft that he was a pretty good shot, and the Germans had tracers so you could see them coming towards you. To be on the receiving end of bullets that you can see coming straight at you is not a very nice feeling and certainly the hair on the back of my neck was sticking up and I was sweating with tension.”
In France D-Day commemorations will be attended by United States President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown along with veterans from all over the world, including around 500 British veterans who will make the special journey to Normandy
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