On June 6th, Cormorant Club members gathered to celebrate their annual reunion and commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Cormorant Club members gathered to celebrate their annual reunion and commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day at a reception hosted by the School of Security Studies at King's College London.
The Cormorant Club is the alumni association of the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham. The association is open to graduates of the Higher Command and Staff Course (HCSC) and the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC), which are delivered in partnership with King's Defence Studies Department to provide professional education for military personnel and civil servants.
The event, organised in collaboration with the School of Security Studies' Freeman Air and Space Institute, opened with a speech from Cormorant Club Committee Member Tim Winter. He provided an account of his father's first day on French soil, titled "Light me a Candle." On D-Day, Raymond Winter was a 20-year-old Captain in the 2nd Armoured Support Regiment, Royal Marines, landing on Juno Beach.
Cpt Winter's account reflects on the scene that stood before him on the 6th of June, 1944:
Now, as we gazed, the shadow of itself, laid a smoking ruin at our feet. Where we had stopped along the wall this barrier of stone still stood all of ten feet high, except for a gaping gap where a section of Canadian infantry had taken cover; all dead, save one. He, the "tail end Charlie" was separated a little from the rest, lay moaning gently, the barrel of his Bren-gun, twisted into an obscene question mark, torn from his grasp, now lay fifteen feet from him, in the road.
Captain Raymond Winters, 2nd Armoured Support Regiment, Royal Marines
After Cpt Winter came to the aid of the Canadian soldier and wiped his face clean, the soldier opened his eyes and spoke:
This prompted him to open his eyes, and something I said prompted him to try and speak: "Light a candle for me sir," he said before he died. I gently closed his eyes, retrieved his Identity Disc from under his battledress, and I laid it conspicuously on his chest.
Captain Raymond Winters, 2nd Armoured Support Regiment, Royal Marines
Tim Winter closed the account by telling attendees that, "every June the 6th, until he died in 2010, [his] father would light a candle for that soldier."
Head of Defence Studies Department, Professor Niall Barr was the guest speaker for the evening and gave a lecture focusing on 'D-Day, Operation Bolero and the American invasion of Britain from 1942 to 1944.'
Professor Barr highlighted the US and the UK's "checkered" history and "special relationship" that came as a result of World War Two.
It takes a real effort of mind for all of us now in the 21st century to realise that Britain and America were not actually natural partners, natural allies before the Second World War.
Professor Niall Barr
He discussed the differing strategies of the two countries and the difficulties had in reaching a final agreement, "I think when we look back on D-Day and we're celebrating that 80th anniversary, there's a certain sense of inevitability about it. We seem to believe now that that course of events was how it was meant to be. Well, it took huge arguments, a huge amount of discussion, a huge amount of planning and decisions before D-Day ever became a reality."
Professor Barr emphasised that Operation Bolero was all about "ports and convoys" and "the movement of American troops, air supplies and equipment to the UK" with the first troops landing in the UK in January 1942.
He also highlighted the social impact of the "extraordinary American invasion" and the legacies that followed, "70 to 80 thousand British women, at the end of the war travelled to the US to start new lives as GI brides… it led to bonds and family bonds between Britain and America that simply did not exist previously."
Those invasions may have been relatively brief, but their impact was profound… The American invasion of Britain led to bonds between the United States and Britain which never existed before and means that Britain today is far more aligned socially with America than would ever had happened otherwise.
Professor Niall Barr
Professor Barr ended his lecture by recognising "the service and sacrifice of all those who took part in the liberation of Europe."
In his closing remarks, Head of the School of Security Studies, Professor John Gearson invited Cormorant Club members to become a part of the School community, "The school obviously encompasses Shrivenham… we would very much like you, as Cormorant Club members to feel part of our community, to feel part of our Community here at the Strand so please do come and attend events and be part of our community. That's one of the things that we value most."
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