Truro’s town crier Lionel Knight delivered a proclamation of the 80th anniversary of D-Day at 8am this morning.

Traffic came to a standstill in Boscawen Street as mayor Cllr Carol Swain and mayoress Sarah Douglas-Martin joined representatives of the Royal British Legion and Truro City Council at the war memorial to honour those who took part in Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944.

On the eighth stroke of the City Hall clock, Mr Knight rang his bell and made his speech. Referring to the operation as “an incredible achievement in military planning and logistics,” he paid tribute to 150,000 servicemen and women from air, sea and land forces who stormed the Normandy beaches in an offensive that would signal the beginning of the end of the Second World War.   

As Simon Cundy, standard bearer for the Royal British Legion’s Truro branch, lowered his flag, branch chairman Barry Cooper quoted Laurence Binyon’s famous poem For The Fallen, and was joined by the assembled crowd in the words: “We will remember them.”

After the event, Mr Knight said he felt “very honoured and emotional” to have launched the city’s D-Day commemorative programme in this way, adding: “I feel very privileged. They were heroes. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Cllr Swain said: “It was so important to do this. My parents were involved in the war effort, and all through my childhood I heard about the sacrifices made by everyone in Britain during those times. We must never forget, so nothing like that ever happens again.”

Cllr Douglas-Martin added: “We must honour those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our future.”

Town clerk David Rodda said: “This is a moment of local, national and international importance, but seeing all the names on the war memorial is a reminder that many of those people still have descendants living in the city.”

Events will continue with a formal wreath laying ceremony at 11am, led by Truro Royal British Legion at the war memorial; and a tribute to Scottish piper William (Bill) Millin on High Cross at 9.10pm, followed by Cllr Swain lighting a memorial beacon to signify the light that emerged from the dreadful darkness of war.