THE splendid photograph (The Press, April 17) of seven of this country’s bravest men was both a delight and timely reminder in one.

I was privileged to get to know the York branch of the Normandy Veterans Association prior to the huge events planned for the 60th anniversary and went on to join them in France while presenting a BBC radio programme from Sword Beach six decades on, at exactly the time these men came out of the sea on D-Day 1944.

I clearly recall seeing them and many hundreds more standing in the searing sun a decade ago on that same beach waiting for the Heads of State to arrive, and all the form-filling we all went through to be there then.

May I say to all your readers, cut this photograph out and keep it safe for at least ten weeks.

Then when you see the news and special programmes in the first week of June, look hard into these lovely faces and imagine seven young men in the prime of their lives jumping from aircraft or landing craft into the hell of the Normandy beaches and countryside.

Then those television pictures will be a lot more real to each and every one of us.

These smiling old men, bedecked in berets and medals are in fact OUR history.

If you met any of them, shake then by the hand and simply say: “Thank you, I know who you are and what you did.”

Sandie Dunleavy, Producer of the RBL York Festival of Remembrance 2014, York.