On June 6, 1944, shortly after midnight, the first wave of 160,000 British, Canadian and American soldiers swarmed the heavily fortified beaches of German-occupied Normandy by air, land and sea in a long-coordinated invasion known as Operation Overlord. In the intervening days, the Allies captured the coast in a victory that turned the tide of World War 2. The win did not come without a sacrifice: the Germans lost as many as 9,000 soldiers, while the Allies count as many as 10,000 casualties.

Eighty years later, Normandy still bears witness to this massive operation. Its craggy coasts and beaches remain dotted with bunkers, bomb craters, and other battle remnants, as well as cemeteries and memorials that, taken all together, form a piece of history.

This week, people across Europe and America are gathering to commemorate this historic occasion. And this anniversary is particularly sombre - it is likely the last major one to include the few remaining survivors who fought on D-Day.

It was the 17th century poet, priest and orator George Herbert who said that “He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea”. That has probably been rarely more true than in those days building up to D Day.

Charles Jarreau of the US Coastguard stationed in Weymouth said that “The troops were just flooding into the docks, people everywhere. Priests were in their heyday – everybody was scared to death.

The US Army was the least experienced army in the world. Of the nearly 50 infantry, armoured, and airborne divisions selected for participation in the campaign, only two – the 1st Infantry and the 82nd Airborne had previously seen combat.

Nor had the bulk of British forces seen action. Although we had been at war with Germany for four years, only a small number of divisions had seen action in France or North Africa, and most units had little more than a handful of veterans in them.

This posed problems that caused apprehension, but it had a certain advantage as well. Many veterans were terrified as they faced the looming prospect of D Day – they knew what was about to come. Whilst the focus of those with no previous experience of combat was on something largely unknown – would they be brave? Would they survive?

Much of the invasion fleet put to sea on June 3. A low-pressure system that moved in across southern England on June 5 brought storms and high winds – the worst Channel weather for 20 years – Eisenhower postponed. For the troops, the days spent at sea were terrible with many transports and landing craft unable to get back to safe harbour. Circling off the Isle of Wight, waves broke over the sides and the rain beat down. It was abject misery.

“The waiting for history to be made was most difficult” said one American private, “I spent much of the time in prayer. Being cooped up made it worse. Like everyone else, I was seasick, and the stench of vomit permeated our craft.”

After interminable hours pitching up crests and lurching into troughs, men were exhausted, saltwater-soaked, and hungry – not an auspicious beginning to the greatest sea-borne invasion in history.

Today, as we approach the 80th anniversary of that extraordinary day when allied troops once again set foot in mainland Europe to rid it of the scourge of the terrible Nazi regime; we join our own prayers with the prayers of those expressed 80 years ago by all those heading for the beaches of Normandy.

Amongst those heading for the beaches were a significant number of clergy. Chaplains, unarmed, accompanied every division and unit on land, sea, and in the air. They administered the sacraments, conducted services, and helped with morale. They carried wounded soldiers, cleaned wounds, and ministered to the wounded and dying.

Some of the stories of these men are well-known. The Revd Leslie Skinner, a Methodist minister, was the first British chaplain to land on Sword Beach with the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry. He made it his duty to record precisely the burial site of each of the 153 men of the regiment killed in action during his time as their padre. He was well-known for retrieving the body parts of men who had died in tanks, so that their comrades did not have to encounter their charred remains.

The Rt Revd Mark Green, later Bishop of Aston, landed on 7 June with the 27th Lancers, and won the Military Cross for rescuing wounded men under heavy artillery fire.

More than 3600 British chaplains served in the Second World War: 96 lost their lives of which 21 chaplains died in Normandy between June and September 1944.

In perhaps the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount, from which we heard just now, Jesus declared, “Blessed are the Peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God”. The necessity of this seventh beatitude is seen in the tragic reality of the perpetual contention, enmity, and strife that is so prevalent in our world today. We join our own prayers with all those who pray for peace in our own time - in the Middle east, Ukraine, and everywhere else in this world where people continue to live in fear.

But Jesus offers a way in which to make the changes we so long for, an upside-down Kingdom where the last, the least, and the lost might have pride of place.

So today, we offer prayers for a better world, where all can live in a Kingdom of justice and peace; a world that lives in harmony with itself and where wars are neither fought nor are necessary.

We gather, we pray, and we remember, because the best memorials are not mad of flowers, or wood, or stone; the best memorials are people.

War Memorials and memorial services can never tell the whole story of the freedoms those people named on them have fought for. Individuals and nations living in peace do.

And, if you think that this is simply useless idealism, then perhaps reflect on these words of G K Chesterton, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”

Lord God, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.