Councils to commemorate D-Day anniversary in Stone and Stafford

The 80th anniversary of D-Day will be commemorated with events in Stone and Stafford next month.

June 6th, 1944, saw the largest seaborne invasion in history when Allied forces landed at Normandy during the Second World War.

Stafford Borough Council and Stone Town Council will both mark the anniversary on Thursday, the 6th of June.

In Stafford, there will be an event in Victoria Park featuring performances from local singers, poets, choirs, and dancers, followed by a beacon lighting ceremony at 9:00pm

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Stone Town Council also hopes to light a beacon in the evening to mark the occasion, members heard at their meeting on Tuesday. There will also be a short service earlier in the day, with the D-Day flag being raised at the flagpole at the top of the High Street at 11:00am.

Councillor Jim Davies, who has been involved in organising the town’s commemoration, said:

“This is not a celebration – it’s not VE Day or a jubilee – it’s really a poignant day.

“From the town’s point of view, we come from the right level of commemoration. It has to be a mix of celebration we got to this stage of the Second World War and commemoration of the men of the town who gave their lives.”

A second event will take place at the flagpole on Sunday, the 9th of June, to remember the six men from Stone who lost their lives in the Normandy campaign, also known as Operation Overlord. They were W J Silvester, F Spencer, G E Handy, H Cartwright, H S Bratton-Brown and R Brassington.