Owner of cafe next to Pegasus Bridge raises toast to D-Day veterans

Arlette Gondree thanked veterans and spoke of her ‘difficult times’ during the Second World War.

Arlette Gondree spoke before giving a champagne toast (Jordan Pettitt/PA) (PA Wire)

The owner of a cafe next to Pegasus Bridge has said elderly D-Day veterans were with her “in spirit” as she raised an annual toast.

Arlette Gondree, who runs Cafe Gondree, one the first houses to be liberated on D-Day, thanked veterans and spoke of her “difficult times” during the Second World War.

Ms Gondree was four years old when British troops entered the cafe, then run by her parents.

People crowded around as she held a champagne toast shortly before 11pm on Wednesday, a tradition which has occurred since 1944.

She said: “The veterans I had [at the cafe] this afternoon are too old and they cannot be here tonight, only in spirit.

“So I thank the young soldiers of today for helping me carry out the tradition of the toast.”

Serving troops from the Parachute Regiment, the Rifles, the Army Air Corps and the Salamanca Band and Bugles of the Rifles walked across Pegasus Bridge.

It is close to where the allies landed before capturing two key bridges during the early hours of D-Day.

A vigil was then held at the Major John Howard Memorial marking the exact moment the gliders landed.

Major Howard transmitted the Ham and Jam code to signal their success, marking the first British objective to be achieved on D-Day.