Saturday June 6 is the 65th anniversay of D-Day 1944 during WWII.

D-Day

Features, links, and an introduction to the history of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of occupied Europe that began on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

www.worldwar2history.info/D-Day -

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Thursday, Jun 04 2009

On the eve of the D-Day anniversary, the achingly poignant story of the love a Nazi sniper's bullet could not kill

By Frances Hardy
Last updated at 8:25 AM on 04th June 2009

They met at the rollerskating rink in Swindon, a social hub for wartime teenagers where the more accomplished could dance on their skates.

The young American soldier strode up to Monica Tovey and said: 'Hi honey. May I take you on the skating floor for a waltz?'

'He was tall, charming and wellspoken,' she recalls. 'We'd heard the accent on films, of course, but for all we knew of America then, he could have come from the moon.'

Wartime romance: Monica Tovey was just 16 when she became engaged to paratrooper Martin Collins

Monica accepted the invitation - and began a sweetly innocent love affair that would end in tragedy, but bring her golden memories for the rest of her life.

On Saturday, Monica Tovey will place a posy of bright flowers in a hedge that skirts a Wiltshire field as she has done on the anniversary of D-Day for the past 65 years.

She will say a silent prayer for the first man she ever loved, who died in action on that day. And in this small, private act of remembrance she will replicate the sorrow and pride of countless others bereaved in the Second World War.

To read the rest of this remarkable love story, still strong after 65 years, click on:

WWII Love Remembered

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