The Veterans Charity has launched a special event which will commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day and raise vital funds to support Veterans who face hardship and distress.
The event, titled ‘RUN TO PEGASUS’, will be held on 4-6th June 2019 and the charity invites people to register to participate as soon as possible to help with planning and preparation for the run, which the charity first staged in 2009 for the 65th anniversary.
Danny Greeno, Chief Executive of The Veterans Charity said “This was the first large scale event we held, and it helped us not only to raise the funds to create our much-admired memorial at Pegasus Bridge in Normandy but also enabled us to donate more than £150,000 to support Veterans in need. We have received many requests in the last 7 years to hold the event again and as the 75th anniversary is approaching, we felt it was the perfect time to hold the run once again.”
On the night of the 5th/6th June 1944, men of the 2nd Battalion the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, known as “the 52nd”, took off from Tarrant Rushton Airfield in Dorset in six Horsa gliders and headed towards their objective; two vital bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne by the village of Benouville. This coup de main operation was called “a suicide mission that might just work” by some senior officers but thanks to the training and skill of those involved, the men achieved their objective and seized both bridges in under ten minutes. No4 glider, carrying 22 platoon, was released in the wrong place and landed some ten miles away from their objective. Despite landing in the wrong location, the men successfully seized the bridge where they landed and then began to make their way towards Pegasus Bridge and the rest of the Battalion. Despite several sharp encounters with the enemy resulting in four men being killed and several wounded they eventually joined up with the rest of the 52nd near Ranville after 18 hours of marching, wading and fighting during which time they added various parachutists and an airman to their number.
In 2019 the Run to Pegasus will set off from the former airfield site in Tarrant Rushton at 18:00 on 4th June and the group will run through the night to arrive at Portsmouth on the evening of 5th June. The group will then board a to Ouistreham where they will form up about the same time that men began landing on the beaches 75 years earlier. Then, the group will cover the final three miles along the canal towpath to arrive on Pegasus Bridge late morning
on D-Day itself, 75 years since the men of the Coup de Main arrived in the same location to spearhead the entire invasion.
On the afternoon of the 6th June 2019, the group will attend a special unveiling of a plaque dedicated to the men of 22 Platoon which will be placed on the bridge where they landed near the village of Perriers-en-Auge. Following the ceremony, the group will form up once more for a 10-mile march back to Pegasus Bridge, bringing the total mileage covered to 75 miles.
The Veterans Charity needs a total of 186 sponsored runners to take part in the Run to Pegasus 2019 to replicate the number of men in the original operation (including 2 RAF crew members for each Halifax Bomber which towed the gliders across the channel). Each runner will raise a minimum of £1000 sponsorship for the charity which provides immediate needs support directly to Veterans of all generations who face hardship and distress.
Full details of the Run to Pegasus can be found at www.veteranscharity.org.uk/rtop