D-Day: Operation Overlord 71 years on

At some point in your day today please take a moment try to get a sense, however small and fleeting, of what it must have been like sailing in those little boats across the calm sea to throw yourself upon beaches of Normandy.

And think of those in the skies and on the seas who had gone the night before into the maelstrom, that you might have a sliver of hope of making it up that beach.

And then to those in the planning offices, the spies, the code breakers, the factory workers, the merchants, the farmers, the families and all the other walks of life - all working for months towards this single moment in time upon which so much rested.

Search your imagination for the merest glimpse of the all consuming totality of it all.

Then perhaps give a moment to think of all those that came before and after them, in that war, in those before and in those since - and realise what we enjoy today is in no small part due to those who have had courage enough to fight so that we may live in peace.