Sunderland children pay emotional tribute to D-Day heroes at special service to mark 80th anniversary of landings

There were moving tributes to the heroes of D-Day as schoolchildren in Sunderland read poems they composed to honour those who took part in the Normandy landings.

The school pupils were invited to the special service at Sunderland Minister on Thursday, June 6, to mark 80 years since troops landed on the beaches of northern France to being Operation Overlord, leading to liberation of western Europe from the Nazis.

Year 6 pupils Milly Clark from Fulwell Junior and Lucas Bowen from Biddick Primary and 15-year-old Shaun Hair from Washington Academy were chosen to read out their poems after winning a competition organised by Together for Children and Sunderland City Council to honour the heroes of the largest seaborne invasion in history.

More than 100 pupils from schools across the city entered the competition and all of the poems entered were proudly on display at the D Day 80 celebration service at Sunderland Minster in High Street West.

The Minster service was led by Major Edward Gorringe, Padre, 8 Rifles.

Among those who attended were the Mayor of Sunderland, Councillor Allison Chisnall and Deputy Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, Dr Norman Taylor who read Laurence Binyon's famous poem 'For the Fallen'.

Commander Kevin Stockton of the Royal Navy read 'In Flanders Field' and the Sunderland Minster Choir sang Jerusalem.

The Mayor of Sunderland, Councillor Allison Chisnall, said: "It's a great honour to come together as a city on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings to pay tribute to all those who lost their lives fighting for the freedom that we continue to enjoy today.

"We owe them a huge debt of gratitude. Without the tremendous bravery and courage of all those who took part and those who supported them back home, the outcome of the war might have been very different."

Praising the 100 plus pupils from across the city who entered the poetry competition, she added: "It's wonderful to see so many young people from our city taking part in the poetry competition to mark this anniversary. I'm incredibly proud to see them paying their own very special tribute to the heroes of D-Day 80 years on."