D-Day ‘brave souls’ remembered at Wick remembrance service
The sacrifices made during the Normandy landings in 1944 were remembered at a service of remembrance in Wick on Saturday.
The short event in the garden of remembrance beside the town hall was one of a series of commemorations ahead of Remembrance Sunday this weekend.
June this year saw the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces mounted a large-scale invasion of Nazi-occupied France that ultimately changed the course of World War II.
The service at the garden of remembrance was followed by others at the Soldiers’ Memorial on the North Head footpath and at the Skitten airfield memorial a few miles out of Wick.
The services were conducted by Kevin Stewart, an ex-frontline soldier who is chaplain of the Wick, Canisbay and Latheron branch Legion Scotland. His goal is to enter the army chaplaincy after completing his Christian theology degree through the Highland Theological College.
He told the gathering beside the town hall: “We come together in the presence of God in remembrance of the sacrifices made by the men and women who served our country in the First World War, Second World War and other conflicts around the world – Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Bosnia and others.
“As we reflect on their courage and their self-sacrifice, we also give them thanks for the peace and the freedom that we enjoy in our nation today. Let us open our hearts to God, the source of all comfort and strength, as we honour those who gave their lives for our peace today.”
Mr Stewart led a prayer in which he paid tribute to “the brave souls, 80 years ago, who fought and gave their lives in the D-Day landings and the battles that followed”.
He said their service embodied “the highest form of the love and of the self-sacrifice that Jesus spoke of in the Gospels”.
Mr Stewart went on: “We also pray for those soldiers who came back, whose lives still bear the scars and invisible wounds of war, whose battles did not end when they left the battlefield. For many, the scars of war remain a daily struggle.”
Wreaths were laid after a two-minute silence.
Poppy crosses were placed by Caithness Vice-Lieutenant Willie Watt and Legion branch representatives Murray Lamont, Alex Paterson and Beverley McPhee.
At the Soldiers’ Tower, Mr Stewart pointed out that 24 military campaigns are represented on the flagstone panels of the cliff-top memorial. Inside, there is a sealed casket beneath the floor containing a list of the names of 442 veterans from Caithness.
Mr Watt placed a poppy wreath, and did likewise at Skitten.
The Skitten monument, alongside the B876, honours those who flew from the airfield and did not return. It lists the men who lost their lives in Operation Freshman in 1942.