They Shall Not Grow Old

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, the day of Operation Overlord, the U.S. First Army, under General Omar N. Bradley, and the British Second Army, under General Miles C. Dempsey, established beachheads in Normandy.

A force of about 152,000 Allied soldiers from the United States, Britain, and Canada were supported by about 23,000 paratroopers.

TheEye's grandfather's were fighting in North Africa and Asia respectively at the time and he salutes them.

It's the 65th anniversary of this monumental battle approaching. However it is Labour Government policy to only help fund veterans to attend 10th, 50th, 60th and 100th anniversaries of any major engagements.

It would only cost £300,000 to send the few survivors back for the 65th...after all, how many are likely to be around for the 100th anniversary!

This evil corrupt government, featuring a Justice Secretary caught breaking the law, a Home Secretary caught fiddling her expenses by £166,000 using a fake address, and several Labour peers taking £30,000+ each for changing laws, could find this sort of cash down the back of the sofa in the Cabinet Office.

The Government has apparently commited to providing the funding for the 100th anniversary.

How many WWII veterans are going to be applying for grants to attend a ceremony in 2044, eh?

If anyone else feels as TheEye does, then feel free to complain and be ignored by the one-eyed Scottish idiot. More constructively, TheEye will also be donating to:

The National Treasurer,
The Normandy Veterans Association,
1 Chervilles, Barming, Kent, ME16 9JE

...to ensure that someone who might not have made it there can go to salute his old comrades.

Shame on you, Brown. Shame.