Have we betrayed the D-Day generation?

Today is the 79th anniversary of D-Day, 6 June 1944, when Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe and the end of the Second World War. Despite the fears of prime minister Winston Churchill and others that the Anglo-American and Canadian landings would be a bloody fiasco, victory was achieved. A beachhead was secured, and the minutely planned Operation Overlord eventually secured a peaceful Europe, albeit at a fearful cost: 4,414 Allied servicemen died on that day alone.

Naturally, the steady subsequent attrition of the years means that there are hardly any survivors left from that historic day. As a result, it is we, the grandchildren and great grandchildren of that heroic generation who must mark the day and reflect on what their courage and sacrifice won for us and what we have done with their legacy.

Let us be honest: the men who stormed ashore on that day would hardly recognise the world that we have created, and would be amazed and perhaps even ashamed of the mess that we have made of their sacrifice .