Ex-servicemen at the Normandy Veterans' D-Day 60th anniversary service at Salisbury war memorial on Friday.NORMANDY veterans held a short wreath-laying ceremony at Salisbury's war memorial on Friday, before travelling to France for this weekend's 60th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings.

Members of the Wiltshire Branch of the Normandy Veterans' Association gathered at the memorial for the service, conducted by their padre, the Reverend Joe Bell.

They were joined by members of other ex-servicemen's associations, and former Royal Marines bandsman Jack Dwan (87) played the Last Post and the Cavalry Reveille.

All were there to give thanks for their survival and to pay tribute to those who never returned from the beaches.

Wreaths were laid by Mayor of Salisbury Bobbie Chettleburgh and by Eddie Ball, president of the Salisbury branch of the Royal British Legion, Norman Mortimer, of the Royal Navy Association, and Ernest Wilkes, chairman of the Wiltshire branch of the Normandy Veterans' Association.

Mr Wilkes (80), who founded the branch in 1998, is travelling to Normandy tomorrow with 40 veterans for the commemorations.

"We are staying in Normandy for four days and then going to the Menin Gate, in Belgium, to acknowledge those who died in the first world war," he said.

"I shall be laying a wreath at the grave of my uncle, Levi Cottrell, at Etaples.

"He volunteered under-age - he was not quite 17 - and spent four years in the trenches before being killed just before the end of World War I.

"On June 5, we have a medal presentation by the French government at Colleville Montgomery, and on June 6, we shall join with the 106 Normandy Veterans' Association branches gathered together at Bayeaux.

"On the other days, we shall visit the battle sites."

Mr Wilkes recalled his own experiences of the build-up to D-Day.

He and his comrades were moved from Cromer in Norfolk to a secure camp in London, "to wait for the word 'go'." Mr Wilkes said: "One of our lads was a cockney and only lived half-a-mile from the camp.

"We were not allowed out, but we pushed him over the fence so he could go home and see his wife and then come back.

"If anyone had found out, he would have been put on a charge!"

Mr Wilkes and his colleagues were supposed to cross the Channel on June 6, but ended up going on June 9 and were in Europe until the end of the war. "We went up through Belgium and Holland, and crossed the Rhine in March 1945," he said.

Soldiers of Dragon Company, 1st Battalion The Staffordshire Regiment, will be playing a key part in this year's D-Day celebrations.

They will be part of a Royal Guard of Honour and Colour Party taking place in Normandy between June 5 and June 7.

Two officers and 50 soldiers will play a key part in ceremonies involving thousands of veterans and VIPs across France, including Caen, Bayeux, Hermanville cemetery and Cambes en Plaine.

1st Staffords is an armoured infantry regiment that has warrior armoured fighting vehicles. It is part of 12 Mechanised Brigade and the 3rd (United Kingdom) Division, which both have their headquarters in Bulford.

Cassino veterans mark battle anniversary - page 15