D-DAY: SIXTY years on there is little trace left of the death and destruction that scarred the beaches in the D-Day landings in Normandy.

But the memories of the invasion on that day, June 6 still haunt 81-year-old veteran Chris Hellings of Semington Road, Melksham. As he walked on to Sword beach on Saturday in an act of remembrance it was a time to contemplate. "It is time like this you realise you are lucky to be alive," he said as he gazed out over the sea..

Barely out of his teens he was part of an Allied force of 176,475 men and women who took part in the landings, which turned the tide of the Second World War.

A tank gunner with the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry, he quipped it was the first time he has stepped on the sand because he was on tracks last time.

But his mood changes when he talks of the comrades lost during the invasion.

His tank was hit with two shells as the invasion force pressed inland from the beaches.

He said: "I was manning the gun on the tank when all I saw was a flash on the battle plate in front of me. I just got a splinter but the next one that came in got the radio operator, he lost two fingers."

It was the first time Allan Gullis, 81, also from Melksham, has returned to the beaches since the invasion.

He served in the Royal Army Service Corps working to deploy portable floating harbours on the coast.

For him it was a quiet time of reflection, a moment to remember one last time. He said: "It was emotional. I am just proud to be here."

It is hard for the next generation, without a first hand experience of war, to imagine the horrors and sacrifices each man made yet the veterans show humility and are self effacing about their heroics. Postcards everywhere show black and white pictures of soldiers at the invasion. Their gaunt faces are etched with fear and fatigue. Some hold up the wounded, others lie prone on the sand, bodies float in the water.

But for the veterans memories are enough.

Cliff Jones from Frogwell, Chippenham, was just 22 when he and the rest of his battery arrived off Gold beach.

He remembers thinking that if the firing started he would be the first to go when he landed on D-Day +1.

He said: "It is probably the last big commemoration. You think of all the things that happened and the mates you had who are no longer with us."

The Wiltshire men joined hundreds of other veterans at Colville Mongomery, just minutes from Sword beach, for a service to remember those who died in the liberation of France.

The standards from the British branches of the Normandy Veterans' Association were paraded with pride in the shadow of a statue of Field Marshall Montgomery. The association chaplain spoke of the sacrifice given by so many. He said the 60th anniversary was a 'pilgrimage' and reading from an extract St John's Gospel, said: "Man has no greater love than to lay down his life for his friend."

As Last Post sounded, the standards were lowered and there was a minute's silence. The veterans, some now in wheelchairs, their chest of medals glinting in the sun, then made the emotional walk to the beaches, applauded by hundreds of people lining the streets, and cheered by friends and relatives. One conspicuous placard read, 'The young are grateful'.

Wiltshire branch secretary Albert Williams, 83, from Calne, said there had been much emotion but he was proud to be there.

He said: "We are not trying to glorify the war. It was horrible when it happened but it is important to remember. Returning to the beaches with comrades brought back the strong bonds we had. We all helped each other, even those from different regiments. That has stayed with us all through life. When we get together at an event like this we are buddies again."