SOME of York’s last surviving Normandy veterans will recount their experiences on the landing beaches and in the weeks after D-Day at a special event in a York church hall on Friday night.

Ken Smith, Ken Cooke, Douglas Petty and possibly Sid Metcalfe, all now in their 90s, are expected to attend the event at St Lawrence Community Hall in Lawrence Street, which comes almost 75 years after Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion which marked a key turning point in the Second World War.

Organisers say they will relate their stories and tell about the impact of the war on their lives.

New projection equipment in the hall is also set to show photographs of the servicemen, taken in the 1940s.

Nick Beilby, of the York Normandy Veterans group, said there were five remaining York veterans and he hoped Ken Smith, Ken Cooke, Douglas Petty and perhaps Sid Metcalfe would be in attendance.

“Regrettably, our fifth member Bert Barritt, is no longer well enough to attend an event such as this,” he said.

He said playwright Helena Fox would also be there to talk about her play, Bomb Happy, which brings to life the first-hand accounts of the veterans and which would be staged in the York Army Museum in June.

He said: “This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings in the Second World War. Among the thousands of troops making the journey across the Channel and landing under fire from the Germans were these York men.”

He added that everyone was welcome to the event, with tea and cake set to be served, and admission by donation.

The event, organised by the Friends of St Lawrence, starts at 7.30pm on Friday, March 15.