CEREMONIES are due to take place in Swindon commemorating the 59th anniversary of the biggest seaborne invasion in the history of warfare.

The D-Day landings on June 6, 1944 marked the start of the battle to liberate Europe and the eventual defeat of Hitler's war machine.

Over the next few days special ceremonies will be held throughout the world to mark those momentous times including a special one in Swindon on Sunday.

It gets underway with a parade which will leave St Peter's Church in Penhill Drive at 10.45 am and then make its way along Downton Road to the war memorial at the Penhill Royal British Legion.

The parade will be headed by the Swindon Corps of Drums and will include representatives of service organisations, the Swindon mayor Coun Derek Benfield, and Coun Doreen Dart who is president of Penhill RBL.

Denise Jackson, the Swindon Corps of Drums secretary, said her veteran soldier father, Dennis Goodenough, will also be on parade.

Dennis, who is 79 and lives at Park North, was among the first wave on troops to land on Sword Beach on the first day of D-Day.

He was a member of the Royal Artillery's 559th Anti Tank Regiment and went on to complete 36 years military service.

Denise said: "He is really looking forward to it and we are hoping that other veterans will also come along. I can assure them they will be VIPs for the day."

When the parade reaches the memorial there will be a short service and wreaths will be laid. Afterwards everyone will adjourn to the RBL club where the Corps of Drums will give a short static display.

On D-Day itself a staggering 156,000 troops set foot on French soil and with them went 15,000 vehicles.

During those fateful first 24 hours Allied air forces flew 14,600 sorties many of them from bases in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

D-Day casualties were high on both sides as fierce fighting spread inland from the beaches of Normandy.

The Allied death toll was 2,500.

Total D-Day casualties killed, wounded, missing or taken prisoner were 6,603 Americans, 3,300 Britons, 946 Canadians and approximately 6,500 Germans.

The Allies also lost 114 aircraft in the action.

The Evening Advertiser of the day reported how, "Communique No l set the world agog today".

It stated: "Under the Command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.

"In this brief manner, the United Nations, their enemies and the peoples of neutral nations were told that the Second Front had arrived, and that the first stage in the liberation of Europe had begun."