New Lord Lovat statue stands proud at D-Day ceremony
AS veterans and world leaders gather in Normandy today (Friday) to mark 70 years since the D-Day landings, a new statue of Highland war hero Lord Lovat will provide the backdrop.
The statue of Simon Fraser of Beauly, Chief of the Clan Fraser, is by renowned artist Ian Rank-Broadley and stands on Sword beach, one of the five beaches used for the Allied invasion in Normandy.
Cast in bronze, it shows Lord Lovat standing at ease in his battledress, just feet from the eternal flame that burns in memory of all those who lost their lives in the greatest seaborne assault in military history.
It was at Sword Beach that Lord Lovat, or Shimi Lovat as he was known from the Gaelic for Simon, made his historic landing on the morning of 6 June 1944, leading No 1 Commando Brigade.
As he leapt from his landing craft and waded towards Sword Beach under heavy fire, Lord Lovat told his personal piper Bill Millin: "Give us Highland Laddie, man."
Bill Millin paraded up and down the beach, piping the commandos ashore. German snipers later revealed they didn’t shot him because they thought he was insane.
Brigadier Lord Lovat ordered his 2,500 commandos into action and for four bloody hours they battled inland to bring reinforcements to those holding the strategically vital Pegasus Bridge.
By the end of the day, the Allies had gained a foothold in France and within 11 months Nazi Germany was defeated, as Soviet armies swept in from the east to capture Berlin.
Six days later, during the Battle of Breville, Lord Lovat was seriously wounded. He made a full recovery from the severe injuries he sustained, but was unable to return to the army.
The Commando Brigade’s and Lord Lovat’s heroic exploits were later immortalised in the film The Longest Day in which he was portrayed by Peter Lawford.
The Lovat statue will be the backdrop to today’s commemorations where The Queen, President Obama and other heads of state will view the events from their vantage point adjacent to the statue.
The Lovat family raised the bulk of the £100,000 cost of the statue which stands on the beach near the town of Ouistreham.
His daughter Tessa Keswick said: "The act of commemoration is a world event but the statue serves as a reminder that D-Day was all albout individuals and individual sacrifice, not just my father and our family but every soldier and every family."
She attributed her father’s strength of character to his upbringing in Scotland.
"He was a boy who lived off the land, fishing and trapping rabbits. He was tough and resilient. He never expected to have an easy or a soft path," she said.
Lord Lovat died in 1995 aged 83 at his home near the clan seat, Beaufort Castle, Beauly.
Piper Bill Millin, from Shettleston in Glasgow, died in 2010, aged 88.
A statue of him playing the pipes was unveilved at Sword Beach earlier this year.
