Today, we remember the sheer bravery of those Allied forces who stormed the beaches of Normandy in order to open a much-needed second front in the war against Nazi Germany.
What greeted them - miles of imposing coastline, fiercely defended by columns of concrete bunkers equipped with machine guns and rows and rows of treacherous barbed wire and anti-vehicle traps - must have been truly immense.
We think of all of those who were part of what Churchill termed, 'the vast operations', including those airmen (for D-Day involved much of the sky above Northern France as it did its coast), as well as those involved with the planning and preparations for the operation.
Though in this moment we cannot help but be overawed by the courageousness, especially, of those men involved in the first landing waves; to whom it fell to establish beach heads, clear routes, pick off snipers and prepare the beaches for following waves.
In doing so, they forged not just a turning point in the war, but in the journey to victory over Nazi Germany.
