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As a young fan of Cornelius Ryan I was always amazed by his turn of phrase. My Dad made me abandon kids books for history when I was about eleven or twelve and gave me the Longest Day to read. Purnell's History of The Second World War quoted Ryan in truncated form in their D-Day section of the partwork....

 

"It was H-Hour. They came ashore on Omaha Beach. No battle ensigns flew for them, no horns or bugles sounded; but they had history on their side."

 

When you actually read Ryan's full quote it is much lengthier and a lot of the drama is lost. Barrie Pitt, no mean author himself, edited PHSWW and it may well have been him who sized down Ryan's prose to leave us something wholly more memorable. God bless both these authors. On this day and on 06.06.2007 bless all the veterans from the two world wars and since who have served our country well. Great War veteran Henry Allingham is 111 years old. In celebration and commemoration of our heroes, here are a few Barnes snaps from Normandy.

 

starting with the American cemetery above Omaha Beach...

 

 

 

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