NORMANDY veterans have marked the end of an era with the laying-up of their branch standard at York Minster.
It has been placed securely in a brass-mounted glass case on the western wall of the North Transept, just below an existing plaque in memory of those who took part in the D-Day landings and the rest of the Normandy campaign of 1944.
The standard is just above a case containing the standard of the Dunkirk Veterans Association.
Ken Smith, 92, who was treasurer and secretary of the former York branch of the Normandy Veterans’ Association, was joined at the ceremony by three other remaining branch members, Ken Cooke, 91, Albert Barritt, 91 and George Meredith, 92.
Mr Smith, who landed on D-Day itself, said: “It marks the end of an era. I shall miss the standard, having had the privilege of carrying it at various events.”
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