They fought on the beaches of Normandy, they fought on the landing grounds in the fields and streets and hills. As Winston Churchill had promised, they did not surrender. On Sunday, the names of 22,442 soldiers under British command who died on D-day and the subsequent Battle of Normandy were engraved in stone as a permanent reminder of their sacrifice as a new British Normandy memorial was unveiled. The ceremony on a hill at Ver-sur-Mer overlooking Gold Beach, where thousands of British and allied soldiers swarmed ashore on the morning of 6 June 1944, heard a video message from the Prince of Wales, the patron of the Normandy Trust, who said he regretted that Covid had made it impossible for him to be present in France. He said this was not a reflection of the “enormous regard and admiration in which we hold our veterans” or that it “diminished our gratitude for the men and women whose names are now engraved in stone over Gold Beach”. The British and French flags flying over the memorial would be “a reminder of the enduring and important ties between our two countries,” Prince Charles said. Today, 77 years on, the surviving veterans of D-day were defeated in their efforts to return to France, not by war or even growing old unlike their fallen comrades, but by coronavirus. For a second year, the former service personnel who took part in the largest sea invasion in history that marked the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany, were absent even as their numbers dwindle. Three veterans living in France were present: Briton David Mylchreest, 97, formerly a 2nd lieutenant with the 43rd Wessex Division, who lives in Normandy and who landed at Arromanches six days after D-day. “It’s a great privilege to be here today. We have wonderful cemeteries in the area and this is a final permanent reminder. It’s a reminder of the 22,000-plus young men who were gone so we could live the sort of lives we have now,” Mylchreest said. Also present were American Charles Norman Shay, 96, from Connecticut, decorated for his valour in the second world war and the Korean war, who came ashore on Omaha Beach aged 17. and Léon Gaultier, 97, a Breton living in Normandy, who landed on Sword Beach on D-day as one of a first wave of French commandos to storm the beachfront and who is the last surviving member of the Kieffer commando of the Free French navy. The ceremony was attended by the French armies minister, Florence Parly, who quoted Churchill’s “We shall fight on the beaches …” speech. “Winston Churchill became the symbol of a people who would never surrender” Parly said. “We know what we owe the soldiers of liberty. Today we pay homage to the British soldiers. France will never forget. France is for ever grateful.” Parly also laid a wreath at a memorial at the edge of the site for the estimated 20,000 French citizens killed during the Battle of Normandy, which lasted until the end of August 1944. Many of them were killed during allied bombing raids. A French bagpiper played during the ceremony, stopping for a minute’s silence during which all that could be heard was birdsong. Shortly afterwards, the Red Arrows and their French equivalent, the Patrouille de France, carried out flypasts. On 6 June 1944, as part of Operation Overlord more than 156,000 allied troops landed by sea and air. About 4,300 people were killed, wounded or missing in action that one day. The British Normandy memorial sits on a 20-hectare (50-acre) site set within landscaped gardens on a hill above Gold Beach, where British-led troops came ashore. It overlooks the British landing areas on the coast off Arromanches and the remains of Mulberry harbour. Designed by the architect Liam O’Connor, the centrepiece is a giant bronze statue of three soldiers coming ashore, created by sculptor David Williams-Ellis. It is surrounded by 160 pillars forming a rectangle engraved with the names and ages of the soldiers under British command, who came from more than 30 nations, who died between 6 June and 31 August 1944. A Normandy Memorial Trust app can be downloaded giving details of the stories behind each of the names of those who fell. The site, which veterans have long called for, is intended not only as a permanent single record of the names of those who died, but a place of reflection for what their sacrifice meant and means today. Peter Ricketts, the president of the Normandy Memorial Trust, one of the driving forces behind the memorial, said: “We wanted to make the most of this site with its fabulous view over Gold Beach. Many of those who came ashore on D-day would have ended up on this particular piece of ground. “It’s a place of reflection, calm and peace. We were not trying to make a big statement about Britain here. We want people to come and think about what happened here and how it is important.” He said it was also about putting faces and stories to the names. “A lot of families came forward with personal stories, pictures, letters and we hope it is these stories of these young men and women who died that will speak to the younger generations,” he said. Lord Ricketts said donations were still needed to maintain the memorial and build an education centre. Edward Llewellyn, the British ambassador to France, told veterans: “This is your memorial. It stands here brightly in the Normand sun overlooking Gold Beach facing home. “I know how reluctant our veterans are to be described as heroes. The real heroes are those who never came back – your mates. Their names are here now, together, thanks to you.”