NATIONAL COMMEMORATION TO MARK THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF

THE NORMANDY L ANDINGS

THURSDAY 6 JUNE 2019

HALL OF MEMORIES PUKEAHU NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL PARK

WELLINGTON

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D-Day historical background

Officially it was Operation Overlord, but most people called it D-Day (a military planning term in which D stands for the intended day of operations). The attack launched across the English Channel on the night of 5/6 June 1944 was an amphibious assault on an unprecedented scale. Although initial planning went back further, the Allies had decided to open a second front, long urged by the Soviet Union, the year before. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), with General Bernard Montgomery in charge of the 21st Army Group, the land forces involved in the invasion.

The Allies had near-total supremacy at sea and in the air. The German army was still a formidable force but by mid-1944 it was badly stretched, bogged down in Italy and reeling from Soviet attacks on the Eastern Front. Hitler had appointed Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, an old foe of Anzac soldiers in North Africa, to strengthen the Atlantic Wall with additional guns, mines and anti-tank obstructions.

While Rommel knew that an assault was inevitable, he did not know its precise location or timing. As Pas de Calais was just 34 kilometres from Dover, it seemed the most obvious target, so the Germans gave priority to strengthening its coastal and anti-aircraft defences. In the event the Allies chose a longer sea route to get to the more lightly defended Normandy coast. Although much further away from England (160 kilometres), this was more conveniently located for resupply through the big harbours of Portsmouth and Southampton.

Allied preparations were meticulous. While shipyards and factories churned out ships, aircraft, vehicles and munitions on both sides of the Atlantic, Special Forces surveyed the beaches and the coasts. Personnel from all three services practised combined operations, the difficult co-ordination of sea, air and land forces. Allied commanders used dummy ships and land forces to keep the Germans guessing. All the time, Allied aircraft, by now only weakly opposed by the German air force, conducted reconnaissance flights and pounded the French railway network to make it difficult for the Germans to move men and machines up to the landing zones.

Cover image:Back from an operation with 485 (NZ) squadron. Normandy campaign.Maurice Mayston-left (Maurice Mayston Collection)

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aluminium foil – to trick German radar operators into thinking that the main fleet was attacking north of Normandy.

British troops landed on the Sword and Gold beaches, the Canadians on Juno and the Americans on Utah and Omaha. Omaha proved a bloody killing ground. The Allies did not achieve all their objectives that day, but held onto beachheads that they could defend and enlarge.

D-Day’s statistics were impressive. More than 6000 ships set sail, covered by the aircraft of around 200 squadrons. Allied aircraft flew more than 14,000 sorties on 6 June, vastly overshadowing the Luftwaffe’s 100. By day’s end, 153,000 Allies troops had crossed the Channel, 130,000 by sea and 23,000 by air. The Germans would fight back, but within a month there would be over a million Allied troops on liberated French soil.

For the remainder of 1944 New Zealanders continued to make an important contribution at sea and in the air. Merchant seafarers served on the hospital ships and transports that shuttled back and forth across the Channel, protected by a powerful shield of naval vessels. New Zealand airmen helped maintain air superiority over the battlefield and hammered enemy strongpoints and supply lines, with many soon operating from forward airfields in France. Among them was Desmond Scott, aged just 25, who led a mobile wing of Typhoon fighter-bomber squadrons in devastating, but dangerous, low-level attacks on German ground forces.

Paris was liberated in late August and by the end 1944 the Germans had been ejected from almost all of France and Belgium. Much hard fighting still lay ahead, but the end of the war in Europe was in sight.

Planners had to take every variable into account – enemy defences, tides and the weather. Here New Zealander Lieutenant-Commander Lawrence Hogben played an important role in the Admiralty meteorological team. Its advice persuaded Eisenhower to delay D-Day, originally planned for 5 June, by a day so weather and sea conditions would be more suitable.

The invasion force was dominated by American, British and Canadian troops. Although the bulk of New Zealand’s frontline army was fighting in Italy, a few soldiers were present as individuals. Brigadier James Hargest, who was present on 6 June as an official New Zealand observer, would be killed by a shell in August 1944.

The majority of the New Zealand participants came from the Royal Navy and its Fleet Air Arm (in which a total of about 4700 New Zealanders were serving in 1944) and the Royal Air Force (nearly 6000).

There were no New Zealand warships off the Normandy beaches, but observers may have spotted the familiar outlines of the Union Steam Ship Company’s passenger liners Monowai and Aorangi, now painted grey and serving as an assault landing ship and a depot ship respectively. Elsewhere, New Zealanders could be found crewing just about every type of Royal Navy ship. Poet and printer Denis Glover was one of them. Like many that day, he commanded an assault craft, in his case the infantry landing craft HMS LCI(S) 515. He later wrote about ‘conning a shipload of one hundred and four hefty Commandoes, fifteen seamen and two officers of my own, running on a timetable towards terror.’ The terror did not stop him from winning the DSC for ‘exemplary courage and the utmost determination.’The following month Aucklander Ted Tangye would have to swim for it when his destroyer, HMS Isis, hit a mine and sank off the Normandy beaches. Ten New Zealand ratings lost their lives that night.

New Zealand had seven squadrons with a dominion identity in the RAF, two in Bomber Command, three in Fighter Command and two in Coastal Command. Four of these squadrons formed part of the Second Tactical Air Force (2 TAF) commanded by Air Vice-Marshal Arthur Coningham, who had served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli. A Spitfire from 485 (NZ) Squadron claimed the first German aircraft of the day.Most New Zealand aircrew flew with British squadrons, towing gliders, bombing German positions and prowling for enemy aircraft. Les Munro of Dambusters fame flew with 617 Squadron to drop ‘Window’ – strips of

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Trucks on landing craft being prepared for the trip ashore, Normandy 1944.OC1049 National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy

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Pilots with No 485 (NZ) Squadron on the morning of D-Day.HIST826 Air Force Museum

Sword Beach, 7 June 1944, the day after D-Day.AUC0066 National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy

Royal Marine Commanders disembark from Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) on the Normandy coast.APE0020 National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy

Veterans Messers Pen Moore, Hugh Findlater, Jim Kelly, Colin Kemp and Alan Davis attend the New Zealand Commemoration at the Bayeux War Cemetery, France 2014.photo courtesy of nzdf

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Normandy.AUC0065 National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy

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ORDER OF SERVICE

ARRIVALOfficial guests are welcomed by Rear Admiral David Ledson ONZM (Rtd), Chair of the National War Memorial Advisory Council and Colin Holden, Deputy Chief Executive, Ministry for Culture and Heritage

The Honourable Ron MarkMinister of Defence and Minister for Veteransand Christine Tracey

His Excellency Mr Leasi Papali’i Tommy ScanlonDean of the Diplomatic Corps

Nicola Willis MPrepresenting the Opposition Air Marshal Kevin ShortChief of Defence ForceandSherryll Short

Rear Admiral Jack Steer (Rtd)Chief ExecutiveRoyal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association

The Official Party move up the steps to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

RESPECTS PAID AT THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN WARRIORWhakamaharatanga, the Remembrance Bell tolls four times as the Official Party pay their respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

KARANGAThe karanga is called by June Jackson MNZM, Taranaki Whānui, supported by Peter Jackson, Taranaki Whānui, as the Official Party proceed into the foyer of the Hall of Memories

Please stand

PROCESSIONALRangimarie, the Peace Bell tolls six times as the Official Party processes to the front of the Hall of Memories

THE CATAFALQUE GUARD MOUNTS IN THE HALLOF MEMORIES

THE QUEEN’S COLOUR OF THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE IS MARCHED IN NATIONAL ANTHEM

Please remain standing for the National Anthem

Led by Anon Vocal Ensemble

AotearoaE Ihowā Atua,O ngā iwi mātou rāĀta whakarangona;Me aroha noaKia hua ko te pai;Kia tau tō atawhai;Manaakitia maiAotearoa

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God Defend New ZealandGod of Nations at Thy feet, In the bonds of love we meet,Hear our voices, we entreat,God defend our free landGuard Pacific’s triple starFrom the shafts of strife and war,Make her praises heard afar,God defend New Zealand

Please be seated

WELCOME Master of CeremoniesBrodie StubbsManager Memorials and TaongaMinistry for Culture and Heritage

OPENING PRAYER Chaplain Class 2 Di WoodsNew Zealand Defence Force

PROLOGUE Rear Admiral David Ledson ONZM (Rtd) Chair,National War Memorial Advisory Council

COMMEMORATIVE ADDRESSThe Honourable Ron MarkMinister of Defence and Minister for Veterans

VOCAL ITEMAnon Vocal Ensemble sings

READINGAir Marshall Kevin ShortChief of Defence Force

Excerpts from D-Day, Denis Glover, 1944

PRAYER OF REMEMBRANCEChaplain Class 2 Di WoodsNew Zealand Defence Force

LAYING OF WREATHSWreaths are laid by:

The Honourable Ron Mark and Christine Tracey on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand

Nicola Willis MP on behalf of the of the Opposition

Ray Brookes and Philip Stewarton behalf of veterans

His Excellency Mr Zbigniew GniatkowskiAmbassadoron behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Poland

His Excellency Mr Mario BotHigh Commissioneron behalf of the Government and people of Canada

His Excellency Mr Gerhard ThiedemannAmbassadoron behalf of the Government and people of Germany

His Excellency Mr Scott BrownAmbassadoron behalf of the Government and people of the United States of America

Her Excellency Ms Mira WoldbergAmbassadoron behalf of the Government and people of the Netherlands

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Her Excellency Ms Sylvaine Carta Le-VertAmbassadoron behalf of the Government and people of France

Mr Andrew CumpstonDeputy High Commissioneron behalf of the Government and people of Australia

Ms Helen SmithDeputy High Commissioneron behalf of the Government and people of the United Kingdom

Air Marshal Kevin Short and Sherryll Short on behalf of the men and women of the New Zealand Defence Force and their families

Joseph Romanosrepresenting the Mayor of Wellingtonon behalf of the City of Wellington

Trevor Appletonon behalf of the Royal New Zealand Naval Association

Air Commodore Terry Gardiner MNZM (Rtd)on behalf of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Association

Lewis Robinsonon behalf of the Merchant Navy Association

Pauline Pattersonon behalf of the Royal New Zealand Women’s Naval Association

Frank Clark and John Watsonon behalf of the British Airborne Forces (NZ) Inc

Rear Admiral Jack Steer (Rtd)on behalf of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association

Jack SpencerScots College

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Charlotte ConroyRovers Scoutsrepresenting youth

During the wreath laying Anon Vocal Ensemble singsfrom the rear of the Great Hall

PRAYER IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF THE NORMANDY LANDINGSChaplain Class 2 Di WoodsNew Zealand Defence Force

Please stand

THE COMMEMORATION

Last PostUniformed personnel salute

The flag of New Zealand on the upper forecourt is lowered to half mast

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The OdeWarrant Officer Jack RudolphNew Zealand Defence Force

E kore rātou e kaumātuatia Pēnei i a tātou kua mahue nei E kore hoki rātou e ngoikore Ahakoa pēhea i ngā āhuatanga o te wā I te hekenga atu o te rā Tae noa ki te aranga mai i te ata Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou

Response: Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou

Rear Admiral Jack Steer (Rtd)Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association

They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemnAt the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them

Response: We will remember them

1 minute silence

ROUSEThe flag of New Zealand on the upper forecourt is raised to full mast head

THE BLESSINGChaplain Class 2 Di Woods, New Zealand Defence Force, delivers the Peace Prayer and Blessing

RECESSIONALThe Official Party process to the Foyer

In the Foyer, The Honourable Ron Mark and Christine Tracey are invited to sign the Visitors’ Book. The Official Party then move to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

FLORAL TRIBUTES LAID ON THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN WARRIORThe Honourable Ron Mark, Christine Tracey, Air Marshal Kevin Short and Sheryll Short place floral tributes on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

Other members of the Official Party place floral tributes on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

DEPARTUREDeparting officials are farewelled from Anzac Square by Rear Admiral David Ledson ONZM (Rtd), Chair of the National War Memorial Advisory Council and Colin Holden, Deputy Chief Executive, Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Guests and veterans are invited to place poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

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Beau fighters from the ANZAC Strike Wing showing the black and white stripes painted on all allied aircraft for identification. PR10335 Air Force Museum

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Armourers from No. 486 (NZ) Squadron preparing a 20mm canon for their Tempest Aircraft.PR6125 Air Force Museum

This National Commemorative Service was arranged by the Visits and Ceremonial Office, Department of Internal Affairs, in partnership with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the New Zealand Defence Force, and the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association