Irish veterans mark D-Day
25/05/04
By John Breslin
NO more than a dozen Irishmen from the South who served with the British Army on D-Day have so far come forward to declare they will return to Normandy for the 60th anniversary celebrations in two weeks.
Irish veterans who took part in the landings were invited to apply to join a flotilla of ships making the journey across the English Channel on June 6.
But more than a month after the launch here of the British National Lottery-funded Heroes Return scheme, the British Legion said yesterday about a dozen had contacted its Dublin offices. There is still time for veterans to contact the office, district administrator Pam Alexander said.
It is not known how many from the 26 counties fought in the Second World War but at the end of 1943 there were 43,500 Irish-born men in the services.
The Heroes Return programme provides grants for veterans, their spouses or carers to revisit the part of the world where they served. Some took part in the D-Day landings but many others saw action in north Africa and the Far East.
They can travel any time up to the end of 2005 and application forms have been sent out by the British Legion to 450 ex-servicemen.
Before their eventual success, Ms Alexander and her colleagues in the Legion’s Dublin office faced an initially frosty reception from their counterparts in the UK when they asked that those born here be included in the scheme.
Some 10,000 British soldiers, including a number from the North, are expected to make the journey to Normandy.
