D-Day 80th anniversary: Australia’s hidden role in Normandy landings

A venerable old Queenslander will raise the Australian flag on a beach in France on Thursday as the world marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

A venerable old Queenslander will raise the Australian flag on a beach in France on Thursday as the world marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Jim Grebert, World War II veteran and member of the Sandgate RSL sub-branch in Brisbane, is the only Australian among a group of World War II vets aged between 99 and 106 invited to Normandy by Greatest Generation Foundation president Timothy Davis.

Mr Grebert will raise the Australian flag at the ceremony, attended by world leaders, and also lay a wreath in memory of departed Allied comrades on behalf of RSL Australia.

Mr Grebert, aged 101 and accompanied on the trip by granddaughter Helen Bishop, saw combat in New Guinea during and was a key feature of The Courier-Mail’s Anzac Day coverage last year.

Nephew Robert Bass said it was fantastic to see Mr Grebert finally getting the recognition he deserved.

World War II Veteran Jim Grebert at the Sandgate RSL sub-branch. Picture: Lachie Millard

“Those boys went through hell on earth on Milne Bay and their contribution helped keep Australia Australian,’ Mr Bass said.

“That short period of his life has affected him ever since _ a burden for life_ but you wouldn’t know it.

“He is the nicest guy, a give-you-the-shirt-off-his-back type of bloke.

“We are always, and have always been, so proud to have him as part of our family.”

Though it is not widely known, around 3000 Australian participated in the D-Day landing which took place in Normandy France on June 6, 1944, and involved, primarily British, US and Canadian divisions.

The June 6 invasion was a pivotal point in WWII, pushing back the Germans on the Western Front, liberating France and directly leading to the defeat of Adolph Hitler in 1945.