Douglas Borough Council marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day with a service of commemoration held on Thursday June 6.

The North Quay was the setting for the service opened by the Chairman of the Normandy Veterans’ Association, Hector Duff, BEM (pictured below) and Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Douglas, who said he was ‘proud and honoured’ to be paying tribute to those who took part and those who lost their lives in the Normandy landings on June 6 1944. ‘We have a duty to remember them’ he said.

Conducted by the Mayor’s Chaplain, Monsignor John Devine OBE, the service saw the Mayor of Douglas, Councillor Jonathan Joughin JP, read from The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians, while His Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Richard Gozney, (pictured below) spoke of the Manx involvement in the landings, adding that the nation had ‘a solemn obligation’ never to forget the sacrifices made by so many.

The service concluded with the laying of two wreaths; one by the Lieutenant Governor at the foot of the lectern erected for the service on North Quay, the other by His Worship the Mayor and Mr Duff on the Normandy Veterans’ memorial in the Ridgeway Street garden adjacent to Douglas Town Hall.