No repeat of WWII horrors: leaders

Scott Morrison joins the Queen, Theresa May and Donald Trump for a moving D-Day ceremony.

Prince Charles, the Queen, Scott Morrison, Donald and Melania Trump. Picture: Getty

Scott Morrison sat behind the Queen, outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump during a moving commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, soon after signing a world leaders’ Peace Pledge declaring the unspeakable horrors of World War II would never be revisited.

The Prime Minister was one of 16 world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to make the pledge as they saluted the anniversary of the turning point of WWII.

Mr Morrison then met 300 veterans of the D-Day landing, although there were none of the 3300-strong Australian contingent that took part in Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944. Thirteen Australians died on D-Day.

Ninety-three-year-old D Day British veteran Thomas Stonehouse, 93, of Hampshire told The Australian: “I was dead lucky to survive.” He said that his abiding memory was being dreadfully seasick during the landing. His mate who had enrolled in the army on the same day as him — their shared 18th birthday — died beside him that day.

Leaders pose for an official photograph. Picture: Getty

The Peace Pledge acknowledges the 16 nations present at the D-Day ceremony will ensure the un­imag­in­able horror of what happened 75 years ago will not be repeated.

The nations who have signed it include Germany, the US, Britain, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Czech Republic, Holland, Norway, Poland and France.

“In this way, we salute the surviving veterans of D-Day and we honour the memories of those who came before us,” the pledge says. “We will ensure that the sacrifices of the past are never in vain and never forgotten.”

It also promotes working together in a multilateral sense, and reinforces the strong message of the UK from Britain to Mr Trump to work together constructively as friends and allies.

World leaders who were in attendance were Mr Morrison, French president Emmanuel Macron, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Charles Michel from Belgium, the Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Andrej Babis, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos from Greece, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, the Dutch PM Mark Rutte, Norway’s PM Erna Solberg, Poland’s PM Mateusz Morawiecki and Slovakia’s deputy Prime Minister Richard Rasi.

Scott Morrison, Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron. Picture: Supplied

Lieutenant Commander Scott Roberts of the Royal Australian Navy Lieutenant Commander Scott Roberts had a key role in the emotional commemoration representing Australia’s participation in the huge Allied invasion.

Lieutenant Commander Roberts read an excerpt from the 1943 Tehran Conference, where Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Russia’s Joseph Stalin discussed military strategy against Germany, and developed the D-Day plan.

“We look with confidence to the day when all peoples of the world may live free lives, untouched by tyranny, and according to their varying desires and their own consciences. We came here with hope and determination. We leave here, friends in fact, in spirit and in purpose,’’ he read.

The Queen is the only female member of the royal family to have served in the military, training as a mechanic with the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1945 upon turning 18. She remembered the words of her father, King George VI, as he called for a new unconquerable resolve for the D-Day invasion and she then added: “With humility and pleasure on behalf of the country and the whole free world I say to you all, thank you.

She said: “When I attended the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, some thought it might be the last such event. But the wartime generation — my generation — is resilient, and I am delighted to be with you in Portsmouth today.’’

Other speakers at the commemoration were Mr Macron, who read a letter from a 16-year-old French Resistance member who was executed by the Nazis; Mr Trump, who read excerpts of a prayer broadcast across the US by his predecessor Franklin D. Roosevelt on the night of the D-Day invasion; and Mrs May, who read a letter from Captain Norman Skinner of the Royal Army Service Corps, to his wife Gladys on June 3, 1944, that was found in his pocket after beinghe was killed in action.

Before the event, Mr Morrison said he would be remembering the sacrifice of Australians in both ­during D-Day and the entirety of WWII. He said it was an honour to represent Australia paying tribute to those who stormed the beaches and landed in of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

“At those beaches now forever etched in our consciousness, our memory — Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword — tens of thousands of young men faced enemy fire and their own fear and conquered it, all for the higher cause of freedom,’’ Mr Morrison said.

“Terrible as that day was, it was just the beginning.

“Between D-Day and 21 August, the Allies landed more than two million men in Northern France and suffered 226,386 casualties, with nearly 73,000 killed or missing in action. These are sobering, sobering statistics.’’

Australian PM Scott Morrison, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch PM Mark Rutte attend the D-Day event in Portsmouth, Britain. Source: Supplied