Latest news with #Normandy
CTV News
2 days ago
- General
- CTV News
D-Day anniversary: Londoners, French students unite in remembrance
Joe Murray, a retired LCol with the regiment, was joined by French students Inès Girard and Clement Hulley on May 30, 2025, ahead of the 81st anniversary of D-Day, which will be honoured this weekend. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London) The 81st anniversary of the D-Day invasion will be marked this weekend by a London regiment with ties to the battle. The 1st Hussars Regiment Association will hold a public memorial at 10:30 a.m. next to the Holy Roller tank in Victoria Park. Two students from France, who've studied the sacrifices of local Canadian soldiers and the significance of the Holy Roller, will join them. 'This tank liberated Normandy, France, and the Netherlands, and it came home,' Joe Murray, a retired LCol with the regiment, told the students. Both Inès Girard and Clement Hulley reside near Juno Beach, where Canadian soldiers and the Holy Roller tank came ashore on June 6,1944. For the pair, traveling to the Forest City is a pilgrimage. 'I think you need to investigate the duty of remembrance,' pledged Girard. The 1st Hussars Regiment Association sponsored the student's trip to Canada and the visit of two of their own overseas. 'We send two young soldiers, usually in their early 20s, over to France to celebrate and commemorate D-Day,' explained Murray. As area veterans of the invasion have passed, Murray contends it is vital for students and young soldiers on both sides of the Atlantic to learn of their sacrifice. 'Well, I think we always must talk about it, because if we don't talk about it and we don't say the names of the people who sacrificed for us, we will forget. If we speak the names, like we will on Sunday, they will be remembered forever,' said Murray. The students agreed, with Girard adding, 'If you remember what the soldiers in the past did, we can be vigilant for the future.' Albeit an increasingly uncertain future. Which is why Murray stated it remains important to focus on what the Holy Roller represents. 'I always think of the Holy Rollers as the last veteran, and that it symbolizes freedom. People don't realize when they speak their mind that the Holy Roller has their backs. And symbolically, the veterans who won that freedom, well, they're looking down upon them,' said Murray.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Along Came Love review: Diverting melodrama just about delivers on early promise of knotty personal drama
Along Came Love Director : Katell Quillévéré Cert : None Starring : Anaïs Demoustier, Vincent Lacoste, Hélios Karyo, Morgan Bailey, Josse Capet, Paul Beaurepaire, Margot Ringard Oldra Running Time : 2 hrs 5 mins This diverting French melodrama, spanning decades of postwar French life, begins with a promising meld of fact and fiction. Archival footage shows us the sexual partners of now-repelled (or killed) German soldiers having their heads forcibly shaved before public shaming in the town square. We then meet Madeleine (Anaïs Demoustier), shot in matching black and white, evading the mob, before the film, now in idealised colour, meets her again as a waitress in liberated Normandy. Her family have ostracised her. She is raising a son who believes his father to have died in the war. He may well have done for all Madeleine knows. It is to director Katell Quillévéré's credit that she does not fret overly on any guilt Madeleine may or may not have about fraternising with the enemy. That was then and this is now. Survival is all. As most anybody would, she focuses on living from difficult day to difficult day. READ MORE Help comes in the form of a middle-class student named François (Vincent Lacoste). They fall in something like love and get married, but it soon becomes clear his sexual interests do not lie entirely – or even largely – with women. Fractious toing and froing takes us through France's uncertain 1950s and up into its turbulent 1960s. [ James Bond franchise owners seek more time to defend control of 007 spy's name Opens in new window ] The director does not connect much with wider politics. Anyone hoping for a social history of the times will be in for disappointment. This is the sort of film in which people happen upon news reports on the Vietnam War merely as way of clarifying which decade we have reached. Along Came Love is, rather, a saga of wavering emotional dynamics. The central encounter with a black GI really doesn't work – not least because his dialogue has that flat, disconnected quality you so often get when characters speak English in a film not otherwise in that language. Neither principal seems certain how much affection their character feels for the other in this necessarily compromised marriage. But the film does eventually find balance and power in later sections that confront the miseries into which different classes of ostracisation have forced both Madeleine and François. Along Came Love (which has a deceptive title) does not torture the emotion or tax the brain, but, well acted and easy on the eye, it just about delivers on its early promise of knotty personal drama. It also has important things to say – implicitly for the most part – about the unjust expectations placed on women in French society. In cinemas from Friday, May 30th
BBC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Rye rider named world champion in the Mounted Games in Normandy
A 25-year-old woman from East Sussex has been crowned world champion in the Mounted Games, an equestrian competition which took place in Normandy, games were first introduced at the Prince Phillip Cup in 1957, as he wanted a more accessible and cheaper option for riders, with participation now increasing in countries like Nigeria, Mexico and and women can compete together or individually, with Eleanor Wheeler becoming the first female to win the World Championships in 16 said: "It's so fun to test your agility, speed, and athleticism with you and your pony - it's a bit like stunt racing on ponies." Eleanor's mother, Alex Wheeler, introduced her daughter to Mounted Games after competing herself and said she was "amazingly proud" of her."Something that was a hobby, has turned into a little bit more, it's totally taken over me and my family's life," she said, adding that Eleanor's dad who "wasn't horsey at all" now drives the pony across Europe, and sorts out all the equipment for them. The games includes races such as the five flag, where riders reach and pick up and drop off flags from their pony; the toolbox, where hammers are picked up and dropped, and "the sword," a relay race where riders pick up rings off poles with a sword.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- The Sun
Adult-only hotels and holiday resorts could be banned in European country – as they are a ‘threat to society'
THE French government is planning to crack down on adult-only hotels, campsites and restaurants. The decision comes after some people claimed that there was a growing intolerance towards children in the country, which is also facing a falling birthrate. 4 4 Sarah El Haïry, the high commissioner for childhood, said the "no-kids trend" has caused "violence against children" and poses a threat to society, reports The Times. She also addressed those who complain about noisy children and how they are spreading the "idea that children are a nuisance" and putting pressure on parents to make sure they stay quiet. She added: "A child shouts, laughs and moves … we are institutionalising the idea that silence is a luxury and the absence of children is a luxury." El Haïry also said that government lawyers were currently looking at taking legal action against some hotels that refuse children completely. Many hotels in France advertise that they are adult-only, including Saint-Delis in Honfleur in Normandy, which charges €334-a-night (£280.12). The hotel promises an 'exclusive' and 'peaceful' experience. Some campsites are also adult-only, like Camp Laurent in southwest France. There are fears that France will follow the example of Belgium, where one in 10 restaurants now ban children, according to Paris Match magazine. Laurence Rossignol, a socialist senator, is leading the campaign against adult-only venues and she plans to introduce a private member's bill making it illegal to ban children from hotels, campsites and restaurants. However, some lawyers are saying that there is no need for it to go this far, as banning children from such places is already illegal. The luxury hotel claims to make guests 'feel like they're abroad' with an adults only spa and golf course They argue that the ban falls under a law prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of "origin, gender, family situation or age". El Haïry will now be bringing together tourists and travel industry executives to encourage them to adopt a "pro-kids" approach. Some of those who argue for child-free zones claim they are necessary as children are becoming more unruly following a more 'positive parenting' approach that has grown in popularity over the past decade. Others have disagreed claiming that it is natural for children to be loud and want to run around. 4 Some travellers like having the choice for child-free hotels, with one person commenting on social media: "I only book adult-only and have loads of choice, both budget and luxury. "If only there were adult-only flights too." However, others felt differently, with one person stating: "I've never stayed adults only and can't really see the appeal, for me. "I like children and young people and imagine that adults only places are full of loved up couples and old grouches." Also, one woman visited an off-the-radar paradise island off the French coast – and flights from UK cost just £40 return. Plus, Eurocamp holidays in France cost less than UK breaks this summer – with £5pp a night stays, on-site pools & waterparks. 4
Forbes
6 days ago
- General
- Forbes
Memorial Day: Much To Remember. So We Remember.
Rows of white crosses of fallen american soldiers at American War Cemetery at Omaha Beach Cimetiere ... More Americain, Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France COLEVILLE-SUR-MER, NORMANDY, FRANCE – We walked through the imposing entrance, the middle of the semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end. There we stood, at the foot of a 22-foot bronze statue entitled The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves by Donald De Luc. Over the arches of the Memorial is engraved "THIS EMBATTLED SHORE, PORTAL OF FREEDOM, IS FOREVER HALLOWED BY THE IDEALS, THE VALOR AND THE SACRIFICES OF OUR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN". At the feet of the Memorial is engraved both in English and French "IN PROUD REMEMBRANCE OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF HER SONS AND IN HUMBLE TRIBUTE TO THEIR SACRIFICES THIS MEMORIAL HAS BEEN ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA". Thus began our visit – my wife, my 12-year-old son, and me – on the 50th anniversary of D-Day to the most somber place I've ever seen on this earth: The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial (French: Cimetière américain de Colleville-sur-Mer). The cemetery spreads out over 172.5 acres (roughly a quarter of a square mile) of strikingly beautiful land on a bluff overlooking the English Channel. On the day of our visit 31 years ago, the grass and shrubs were soft and lush, the sky was a vivid, cloudless blue, and the waters of the Channel – choppy, cold, and blood-filled on that fateful day 1944 – were soft, rhythmic, and calming on our day in 1994. There was a soft, sweet breeze coming off the Channel that whispered through the maples, pines, oaks, and sycamores as it caressed our bodies and souls, transporting the aromas of the flowering roses and heather to and about us. We remember. To honor this sacred day and to remember those who made it so, it couldn't have been a more perfect setting. Perched atop the cliffs of Omaha Beach, the cemetery holds 9,388 graves of American military personnel, with their white marble headstones seternally at attention. We remember. The cemetery also contains the graves of 45 pairs of brothers (30 of which are buried side by side), a father and his son, an uncle and his nephew, 2 pairs of cousins, 3 generals, 4 chaplains, 4 civilians, 4 women, 147 African Americans and 20 Native Americans. Further, 304 unknown soldiers are buried among the other service members. Their headstones read "HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY A COMRADE IN ARMS KNOWN BUT TO GOD". We remember. We spent an entire afternoon walking the grounds in total silence, along with many hundreds of the one million annual visitors. Words were not just insufficient. They were impossible and unnecessary. A time capsule is buried at the cemetery, to be opened on June 6, 2044, so that our progeny will continue to remember. And so we remember. We remember the thousands buried at Normandy and at American cemeteries all over the world. We remember those at rest in Arlington, Virginia. We remember the many. We remember the individuals. We remember my mother's younger brother Lewis, whose posthumously awarded Purple Heart I've proudly and emotionally passed along to my son. We remember my high school friend John. We remember the 58,000 who died in Vietnam. We remember those who died in Korea, the Middle East, and Afghanistan. We remember. I wish you a deeply thoughtful Memorial Day.
