D-Day 80: Normandy Landings veteran cleans up beaches alongside young people for commemorations

Arthur Reading, 99, helped a group of more than 50 people to remove 88kg of litter between the Hotwalls in Old Portsmouth and Clarence Pier - making sure the city was spick and span before the national memorial service on Wednesday.

The Lord Mayor and Mayoress of Portsmouth also joined the group, put together by the local life chance charity Motiv8, outside the D-Day Story Museum. Mr Reading was a minesweeper and joined the invasion at the age of 19 - being deployed on HMS Ready, one of the first ship’s to reach France.

Arthur and his family shared stories with volunteers about his time in the Royal Navy and gave first-hand accounts of what happened. This included the heroic tale of how he rescued an American paratrooper from the water. He gave his time to speak to young people and make sure the lessons learned from D-Day and the Second World War were never forgotten.

Motiv8 Youth Adviser Mackenzie Bird said: “We want to preserve the meaning of this day for young people - lest we forget. Today’s beach clean has helped us bring together many different communities to not only memorialise such a significant event and to help keep our beaches clean.”

The beach clean was supported by recruitment firm STR Group, ASDA, and Tesco, and coordinated with Southsea Beach Watch and Final Straw Foundation.