VE Day announcement will see Second World War veterans return to Normandy and Arnhem

Second World War veterans will return to Normandy and Arnhem this summer to commemorate two major Allied campaigns of the war.

The announcement was made on VE Day, as the UK marks 81 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe.

The journeys will take veterans back to sites associated with the D-Day landings of June 1944, the largest seaborne invasion in history and the start of the Allied campaign to liberate German-occupied western Europe.

• Operation Pluto as told by a D-Day veteran
• D-Day: The veteran who disobeyed his captain to save a comrade's life
• D-Day: Veteran who volunteered to avenge his brother's death

They will also attend commemorations linked to Operation Market Garden, the Allied airborne operation in the Netherlands later that year, during which Allied paratroopers attempted to seize key bridges to open a route into Germany.

The visits are being arranged through the Royal British Legion, the Spirit of Normandy Trust and the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, with government funding covering the cost of travel.

For many of the veterans, now in their late 90s or older, the commemorations are a chance to stand again in places where they fought and remember those who did not come home.

Richard Palusinski, chairman of the Spirit of Normandy Trust, said veterans make the journey to Normandy each year "not out of any sense of bravado, but to remember those who paid the ultimate price".

On D-Day in 1944, more than 150,000 Allied troops came ashore on five beaches in northern France on 6 June.

The British Normandy Memorial records the names of 22,540 servicemen and women under British command who died on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy.

Organised returns to Normandy have been part of major anniversaries in recent years.

For D-Day 75 in 2019, the Royal British Legion chartered MV Boudicca to take almost 300 Normandy veterans across the Channel for commemorative events in the UK and France.

In 2024, 21 veterans travelled with the Royal British Legion to Normandy. They attended events at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer and Bayeux to mark the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.

The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, one of the charities expected to receive support through the latest funding, also returned to Normandy last year with a group including six Second World War veterans.

The MOD will provide the funding to the Royal British Legion, which will support charities organising travel to the overseas commemorative events.

The Royal British Legion will also provide details for Second World War veterans who wish to apply for support to travel independently.

"The freedoms we enjoy today would not have been possible without the courage and sacrifice of the Second World War generation, and as the nation's champion of Remembrance, the RBL is dedicated to ensuring their legacy is always remembered," Steve Baynes, the Royal British Legion's head of grants said.

The journey announcement comes as new polling suggests public understanding of VE Day is fading among younger adults.

A survey for the Royal British Veterans Enterprise found 63% of UK adults recognised VE Day as marking the end of the Second World War in Europe, falling to 34% among Gen Z.

The same poll found that less than a quarter of UK adults believed younger generations understand the experiences of veterans.