12:41pm Thursday 2nd September 2010
By Reader's letter
I HAVE the honour to be the chairman of the York Normandy Veterans’ Association. The requirements for becoming a member are to have served on land, sea or in the air in or over Normandy between June 5 and August 14, 1944.
We have a diminishing membership, but have been able to make pilgrimages to places that will forever stick in our memories.
This year we received a grant from the Heroes Return branch of the National Lottery to visit D-Day landing beaches at Caen, Fontenay-le-Pesnil and Caen, and cemeteries where friends and comrades are buried.
After Normandy was freed, we fought through northern France, Belgium and up through Nijmegen and Arnhem in Holland up the capitulation of the German forces. Some of us were wounded or taken prisoner and while there is still time, our veterans are anxious to make a journey through that area.
The National Lottery is no longer able to help us and we are collecting funds for this trip by carrying out street collections.
I would like to thank York Railway Station and the local supermarkets that have sanctioned our collections, and express our gratitude to the benevolent British public.
Cyril B Haworth, York Normandy Veterans’ Association, Kyle Close, Tollerton.
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