A SECOND World War veteran has said a sad farewell to a group of fellow veterans who fought alongside him in 1944 during the invasion of Nazi occupied Europe.

Alan Maquillan, 91, from Kemble, fought in the Allied invasion of Normandy as part of a specialist RAF unit.

He has been a member of the Cirencester branch of the Normandy Veterans Association (NVA) but, due to a falling membership, the organisation has taken the decision to disband.

The official closure of the NVA took place after a ceremony on Thursday, held at St Margaret’s Church in London to mark the 70th anniversary of Normandy, the largest amphibious assault ever launched.

Mr Maquillan said: “It was a sad day but it is inevitable. The same thing happened to the Dunkirk veterans group four or five years ago – they disbanded.”

And he added: “When an organisation reaches a certain age it has to close down.

“It is not like the Royal British Legion which will go on for ever.”

Mr Maquillan said he had enjoyed a great time at the service and that it had given him a chance to meet up with fellow soldiers years after Normandy.

He now says he is planning to revisit the battlefields of Normandy for as long as his health will allow.

“It was good to see people together again 70 years after the event,” said Mr Maquillan.

“I will keep in touch with people and I plan to go back to Normandy again.”

The Duke of Gloucester was among the 700 people attending the ceremony in London.

It included the laying up of the NVA’s national standard at the church, which is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey.

The NVA will formally disband on November 21, but the standard will remain in a prominent position in the church in honour of all the veterans and in particular those who lost their lives in Normandy.

The Normandy Veterans’ Association was launched in Britain in April 1981. It was the idea of Arthur Flodman who had landed in Normandy with the Durham Light Infantry.