D-Day memorial service at Southsea in Portsmouth

The memorial service was held at Southsea in Portsmouth

Dozens of events have been taking place across the UK to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of D-Day.

A memorial service has taken place at the D-Day Stone in Southsea, Portsmouth. Thousands of the troops who took part in the Normandy Landings left the shores of the UK from Portsmouth in Hampshire, so the service was held at the D-Day Stone which commemorates those journeys.

The ceremony was organised by Portsmouth City Council and the Royal British Legion. It follows the national commemoration of D-Day, which took place in Southsea on Wednesday 5th June, with 15 world leaders joining Her Majesty the Queen and Prime Minister Theresa May on the seafront in Portsmouth.

Watch our special programme on the national commemoration of D-Day in Portsmouth.

Veterans from across the UK were at the memorial service. A Veterans’ Parade was held beforehand with a military band reinforcing the pomp and ceremony of the occasion.

The memorial service was conducted by the Reverend Canon Bob White. Ahead of the service, a representative of the city Council invited members of the public to attend.

A military band took part in the events of the day
Members of the public turned out to attend the service in a sign of respect
The veterans paraded through the streets of Portsmouth

Although it was a weekday the streets were lined with well-wishers.

After the service, a number of people laid wreaths at the D-Day Stone in tribute to those who had taken part in the events of D-Day in June 1944.

Ninety-eight year old WWII veteran Lawrence Churcher was among those to lay a wreath