WAR veterans marched through Penhill to mark the anniversary of the 1944 Normandy Landings.

Following a service of remem-brance at St Peter's Church, a group of war veterans bearing standards of various services were joined by the Air Cadets and the Swindon Corps of drums to start their march down Penhill Drive to the British Legion.

Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, was seen as the turning point in the war.

One of those there was 80-year-old Perry Emmitt, a member of the Royal Logistics Corps.

He said: "I remember the whole operation very well. I was not frightened, we all felt that there was a job to be done."

Mr Emmitt's memory is mixed with sadness, after he lost a good friend on the second day.

"I have visited his grave over in France. I feel it is important to mark this day."

Standards included the Royal Engineers, the Swindon Corps of Drums, the Stratton Royal British Legion, Penhill Royal British Legion, the Swindon Branch of the Korean Veterans Association, The Royal Navy, The Wiltshire Regiment and the Burma Star Association.

The landings in France precipitated the German defeat in the west.

The success of Operation Overlord in Normandy (6 June) and Operation Dragoon in the South of France (15 August) enabled the British and the Americans to liberate almost the whole of the French territory by November 1944.

The last few German counter offensives in the Ardennes and in Hungary during the Winter of 1944-1945 did not prevent Germany from being invaded. On 25 April 1945, Anglo-American and Soviet forces joined up at Torgau, on the River Elbe. The German capital, Berlin - where Hitler committed suicide on 30 April - was captured by the Soviets on 2 May.