Tomorrow marks the 65th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces landed in Normandy. The Longest Day has been the basis for countless films, books and documentaries, yet the stories of those who bore witness to the event continue to give fresh insight into the huge sacrifices made. Here Times readers share their memories of a defining moment of the 20th century

Jeanne Sowry Former WAAF officer

“As a photographic interpreter stationed at RAF Medmenham — the headquarters of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit — I had a rare insight into the preparations for the D-Day landings. For six months, my unit had been busy examining photographs of the Normandy coast. We were looking at ports, beaches, harbours and estuaries for suitable landing areas for the invasion.

However, despite my work, I was still unprepared for what happened on June 6, 1944.

Times Archive, 1944: The great assault going well

The Allied Expeditionary Army landed this morning after the greatest operation of its kind in history

• Archive topic: D-Day

Multimedia

• Archive blog: How The Times covered D-Day

• Times pictures of the Normandy invasion

BACKGROUND

• D-Day veterans: "Three years old, so I didn’t know"

• D-Day veterans: "I came home and saw the telegram"

• D-Day veterans: "I fired the guns"

• D-Day veterans: "My boyfriend thought I'd stood him up"

• D-Day veterans: "It was my birthday"

BACKGROUND

• D-Day veterans: "The whole works came running out"

• D-Day veterans: "On Gold Beach all hell broke loose"

• D-Day veterans: "A voice shouted: a tank is breaking through. Heil Hitler"

• D-Day veterans: "I told the whole school"

BACKGROUND

• D-Day veterans: “In India, we threw a party”

• D-Day veterans: “I was a POW in Japan”

• D-Day veterans: “That brave Frenchwoman”

On the evening of June 5, I was relaxing with friends at the Compleat Angler Hotel in nearby Marlow. We were having a drink on the lawn. As we stood there, a strange whooshing, rumbling noise began. A huge bomber plane was above us, towing a glider. It was flying very low — so low that we could see the pilot.

There was a strong smell of petrol as the sky began to fill with planes and gliders, all heading for the South Coast and then for Normandy. As the sunset and the light faded to darkness the sky was still full.

Security was tight at Medmenham and none of us knew exactly what was going to happen. But on June 5 we knew that D-Day was upon us and that the invasion of Normandy was about to begin. All those days and nights that we had spent poring over photographs — this was what it had been for. It was the invasion that I like to think was the beginning of the end of the war.

I shall never, ever, forget that evening, the noise of those aeroplanes and the darkening of the sky as they flew over.

Click on the quotes to read more stories:

R Walker: "From the air, I could see the invasion fleet"

Anthony Bannister: "Three years old, so I didn’t know"

Anthea May Ionides: "I came home and saw the telegram"

Laurie Burn: "I fired the guns"

Joan Mary Cattanach: "My boyfriend thought I'd stood him up"

Terence Nunn: "It was my birthday"

Gordon Wharton: "The whole works came running out"

Sergeant Charles Edwin: "On Gold Beach all hell broke loose"

Alison Robins: "A voice shouted: a tank is breaking through. Heil Hitler"

Mary Pearson: "I told the whole school"

Dr David Arkush: “I was a POW in Japan”

David Brancher: “That brave Frenchwoman”

Doreen Hawkins: “In India, we threw a party”