Arromanches

At 18:00 the final and biggest ceremony was held in Arromanches, there must have been over 1,000 veterans in the town. Every bar was full of old friends, telling their tales. The Somme Pipe Band who are here every year led the veterans on their parade.
I had a drink with an old soldier from the Scottish Regiment "Seaforth Highlanders" who had been captured at Dunkirk and had spent five years as a POW. His friends told me not to waste my time with him as he was a D-day Dodger, such was the humour.
I also met a young man who was helping the veterans, he seemed totally out of place. He told me that ten years ago he was always in trouble with the police and had been given a community service order. This meant he had to give up his free time to do charity work. That was ten years ago and his sentence long passed. He was still giving up a week of his holiday each year to be with the veterans long after he needed to.