Operation Overlord was launched 80 years ago with the Normandy landings.
Forty OOs and two members of Staff landed across the beaches in 1944, many on D Day. Fifteen OOs died during the Battle for Normandy; Arthur Whitten-Brown (D 1939) was killed on D Day itself.
As a mark of respect by the School for those who served 80 years ago, and in remembrance of all those who made the ultimate sacrifice, the Union flag was flown above Cloisters throughout the day.
In town, the Royal British Legion held a remembrance ceremony at 11am at the War Memorial with Johann (Sr) playing the Last Post at the minute’s silence.
The town’s Oundle Yarn Bombers also commemorated the 80th anniversary as part of an ambitious knitted project called The Longest Yarn, which depicted 80 different scenes from D Day. The Oundle knitters recreated the capture of Pegasus Bridge, with Lord Lovat and his piper Bill Millin leading twenty soldiers. The figure of Piper Millin was knitted with yarn unravelled from his favourite jumper. The completed scene was sent to Notre Dame Cathedral in Carentan, where it joined the other displays created by knitters from Europe and the United States, and will remain on exhibit until 1 September. The exhibition will then tour England, with a stop in Peterborough.
