Join Re-enactors for D-day Commemoration Walk Across City

Eyewitnesses in Portsmouth in June 1944 tell us that they “knew something was happening, but we didn’t know what” and wondered “where are they going?”

Thousands of allied servicemen marched through Portsmouth before boarding ships and landing craft that would take them to Normandy. Many of them would never return.

Portsmouth residents are being invited to show their pride for the past and share the feelings and emotions felt by Portsmouth residents 75 years ago as re-enactors follow the exact embarkation routes marched by soldiers, sailors, and airmen on Thursday 6th June.

The re-enactment will start from the Mountbatten Centre at 8:00am and follow two routes through the city before meeting at South Parade Pier at 9:45am where a lone piper will play.

The re-enactment will be followed by a Remembrance Service at the D-Day stone opposite the pier at 10:45am. 

Councillor Steve Pitt, Portsmouth City Council's cabinet member for culture and city development, said: "We invite all residents to share this moving commemoration by supporting along the route, and joining the service at the D-Day stone. 119 men from Portsmouth were killed between D-Day and the end of the Battle of Normandy. We will remember them." 

Local schools along the route are also joining in with the moving commemoration by singing songs from the era as the troops march by.

The event has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the transformation of The D-Day Story.

Find out more about the D-Day schedule of events in Portsmouth here »

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