NORMANDY war veterans have commemorated comrades who never made it home, with the unveiling of a memorial stone in York.

The stone, which has been laid in the Memorial Gardens, in Leeman Road, was dedicated to all those who fought and fell during the Normandy campaign, between June 6 - D-Day - and August 20, 1944.

More than 60 years later, the Normandy landings remain the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million troops crossing the English Channel.

More than 50,000 Allied troops lost their lives in the ten-week campaign.

The Canon Jeremy Fletcher, the Precentor of York Minster, led the service of dedication, which started at 11am, last Wednesday, the 63th anniversary of D-Day.

Kenneth Bell, the chairman of the York Normandy Veterans' Association, which includes about 30 surviving members of the campaign, said: "We've been fundraising for the stone for quite a period now, running raffles and other money-raising events. Throughout the country there are these stones, as well as other memorials, like the stained glass one in York Minster."

Mr Bell made it through the massive Operation Overlord to invade north-west Europe.

"I was wounded on October 24, 1944, in Holland, where I was hit with an 88mm gun," he said. He was taken back to the UK before the Allied troops made it into Germany.

He said there were about 80 people at the service, including veterans, their friends and family, visitors and the Lord Mayor of York, Coun Irene Waudby.

Coun Waudby said: "It was a very moving service. I unveiled the memorial stone.

"The youngest member of the association there was 82, but they all stood for the service, standing to attention."

She said there was a piper at the ceremony and a bugler playing the Last Post.

"It is important that our generation, and younger generations, remember what these men did for us," she said.

The York Normandy Veterans' Association meets at 11.30am, every third Wednesday in the month at Huntington Working Men's Club, in North Moor Road, York.