LAST week six members of Ross and District Branch of the Royal British Legion slipped away on a mission of Remembrance and Comradeship.

Having passed through the Channel Tunnel, the group headed to Dunkirk to study the miracle of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force, Operation Dynamo in late May 1940.

Tim Barrett, the group leader, explained how 338,000 troops were rescued over eight days, and the extreme challenges faced by those planning the operation.

Moving on to Dieppe, the group reviewed Operation Jubilee, (19 August 1942) the disastrous Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port.

The plan was that the port was to be captured and held for a short period, to test the feasibility of a landing and to gather intelligence.

But after less than six hours, mounting casualties forced the Allies to retreat.

The group went on to learn of the sacrifice made, largely by Canadian Troops, and the lessons learnt that would be so critical to the later successful invasion of Normandy.

Moving on to Pegasus Bridge, Bayeux and later Carentan the group spent four days following the British and American invasion routes and learning of the challenges faced and overcome by the invasion forces.

The group also took the opportunity to visit some of the hugely poignant cemeteries, British, American and German and laid appropriately engraved crosses of remembrance on the graves of four soldiers of the Herefordshire Regiment that had been engraved by Little Saplings.

The group also laid Poppy Posies at several of the major memorials, including the Merchant Navy Memorial at Arromanches, on behalf of Ross D-Day Veteran Peter Harness.

The weary group returned back to Ross-on-Wye in a very reflective mood and were hugely proud of the challenges overcome by the soldiers from many nations to free Europe and determined that “We will Remember them”.