D-Day veteran says Remembrance Sunday service is 'hijacked' by Royal family #BringBackOurGirls #Entertain9jar via @myentertain9jar

A VETERAN who was the youngest known person to take part in the D-Day landings has accused politicians, the Royal Family and the Church of "hijacking" Remembrance Sunday services.

The Duchess of Cambridge and the Countess of Wessex at the Cenotaph [WENN]

Jim Radford, who was 15 when he served with the Merchant Navy at the Normandy Landings in 1944 and is now an anti-war campaigner, said that the service was "not about" the dignitaries who attended it.
Speaking to Tom Bateman on BBC's Radio Four, he said that he no longer regularly attended the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph, unless in his capacity as an anti-war campaigner.
He said: "Normally I don't go to the Cenotaph. I stopped going years ago. I go to the Merchant Navy memorial on Tower Hill.
"The reason I don't go is because that ceremony's been hijacked by politicians, by the Royal Family, by the Church.
"It's not about the Royal Family, it's not about the politicians, and it's not about the Church."
Mr Radford said that he believed the Second World War was justified in order to stop the Nazis, but said he believed many conflicts since then had been "unnecessary and avoidable".
Describing his experience during the D-Day landings, he said: "I never, ever saw so many ships together and I don't suppose anyone ever will; more than 7,000 ships crossing the Channel.
"The sea was black with ships. How the Germans didn't spot us earlier than they did beats me.

Politicians including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown also regularly attend the service [WENN]

It's not about the Royal Family, it's not about the politicians, and it's not about the Church

Jim Radford

"As we got closer, there was the most tremendous bombardment taking place, every ship was firing it's gun. It was like Dante's Inferno. There were blazing landing craft on the beach and you could still see the fighting going on.
"Like everyone else, even then in '44, I'd seen war films, but it's amazing the difference when it's real.
"The water was full of dead men. A very sad memory of D-Day is all the poor devils who never made it to the beach, who were in the water with life jackets on, floating, and we hadn't time to pull them out.
"Your thought is 'this is real, this is actually happening'."
Asked if he had returned to the site of the landings since the war, he said: "I've only been back three times.
"When I saw it was a beach, covered in children and sandcastles and people running and playing, that moved me enormously. The contrast is so amazing."
On Friday, up to 600 British veterans will join others from America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in Normandy for the 70th anniversary of the June 6 landings.
The Queen will join world leaders including Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin for the commemorations.