MEN and women who fought in the Second World War turned out to honour those who did not return, in a D-Day Remembrance Service organised by members of the Worcester Royal British Legion.

The service, to mark the anniversary of the day in 1944 the Allied forces landed in France, was held at the cenotaph outside the Cathedral, yesterday.

Chairman of the Worcester City branch of the Royal British Legion, John Hewlett said they were there so those who had died would never be forgotten.

"They must not be forgotten - that's my aim. I saw so many perish," said Mr Hewlett, adding that 37,000 Allied forces had lost their lives during the D-Day landings.

He said there was always "a good turn-out" at the annual Service of Remembrance.

"It was wonderful - the crowd - it just shows you that they do remember those men and women who lost their lives so we could live in peace and freedom," he added.

Mr Hewlett and the Mayor of Worcester, Coun David Clark, laid poppy wreaths at the cenotaph and a Royal Artillery bugler sounded the Last Post.

The Rev Canon Bruce Ruddock then said prayers and performed a blessing.

George Cullis, of Norton, near Worcester, one of the a landing craft crew who "ferried" men to the Normandy beaches, said it was just as moving this year, as it was every year.

"It has to be," he said, adding that the anniversray "never got any easier".

President of the Littleworth and District branch of the Royal British Legion, Ron Jaynes, who lost a brother during the war, said it meant a lot to be at the cenotaph.

"People don't realise how horrific war is," said Mr Jaynes, who made a "traumatic" pilgrimage to see his brother's grave, near Kleve, in Germany, a few years ago.

"It was very upsetting to see the lines and lines of graves," he said.

Lillian Jamieson, from Ronkswood, who served in the Women's Royal Air Force from 1942 to 1945, said the service had proved a sombre reminder.

Mrs Jamieson, who was based at Shobdon, near Leominster, from where the pre-D-Day reconnaissance gliders took off, was representing the WRAF Association and the RAF Association.

"It's sad to think of all those who got killed," she said.