00:00My name is Jack Mortonay. Well, in actual fact, my name is John Alfred, but everybody calls me Jack.
00:07I am a D-Day veteran. I'm proud of the fact of being a D-Day veteran, proud of my medals,
00:16but most of all, I'm proud of my generation, who, through the dark years of 1939,
00:231940, 1941 and 1942, stood almost alone against the might of Germany.
00:31The country owes its freedom and democracy to my generation.
00:37People wear the poppy for all different reasons. It may be because they lost a loved one in a conflict
00:42or a grandparent, etc. But wearing the poppy obviously tells our armed forces and our veteran
00:50community that people do care. And that's what the poppy signifies. You know, it's not a political thing.
00:57It's just a, you know, an emblem of peace and understanding.
01:01It's a lovely place with the country, isn't it? And I've been back several times.
01:09And there are two places that I must go. One is, both are cemeteries, one at Bayer and another one
01:23at Ranville. The soldiers buried at Ranville, mainly paratroopers. They, they landed on D-Day,
01:32or the night and D-Day, actually, before we did. They had to take out various strategic targets.
01:43One of those targets was two big guns, which were stationed near Le Havre. And Sword Beach, where I
01:52landed, was well within their range. And had they not done that, then I might not be here and thousands
02:02of others. We've gone through the year with VE80. And then we moved on to Armed Forces Day. And then
02:09in August, we had VJ80. So yeah, it's been a very busy year. So we're dealing with all that and
02:16obviously getting prepared for this year's appeal. It's very, very moving to walk down through those
02:25gravestones. Everyone immaculately in line, not a blade of grass out of place. And as you walk down
02:36them, you can hear them speak to you in silence. And sometimes you read their names. But all we've left
02:45the memories and the picture in frame. The memories are a keepsake for which we'll never part. God has
02:54them in his arms. We have them in our hearts. Amen.
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