A powerful and poignant service was held to commemorate the pivotal role of 12 New Forest airfields in the D Day operation of June 6, 1944.

Military personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States joined representatives from the Royal Air Force, UK service organisations and civic leaders on Saturday at the memorial on the site of the former Holmsley airfield near Bransgore.

RAF Flight Lieutenant A E Haldenby told guests and a large crowd gathered: “We stand on the ground that eighty years ago carried the weight of many aircraft, flying 24 hours a day for a great endeavour.

“So many people from so many nations supported this operation and today we reflect on an extraordinary event and we remember them."

The aircraft that flew from Holmsley in support of the biggest armada ever seen, included Spitfires, Typhoons, Mustangs and Mosquitos.

The service was organised by the charity FONFA, Friends of the New Forest Airfields Association, which maintains the memorial and run a heritage centre in Bransgore dedicated to the airfields.

More than 25,000 men and women in uniform, supported by 10,000 New Forest residents, served at or flew from the 12 airfields.

Many never came back from their sorties.

But they were all critical in turning the tide of the war in Operation Overlord to liberate Europe.

Chairman of FONFA, Dr Henry Goodall, whose father, Captain Henry N Blanchard was killed nine days after landing on Utah Beach on June 8 while serving with the American 9th Infantry Division said: “It is our personal responsibility, for each and everyone of us, to tell the children the stories of those who went out to defend and protect freedoms.

"For it is to them that the torch of freedom and democracy will soon pass when we too are gone."

The service was conducted by Padre Charles Lewis.

He said: “Tyranny can raise its head at any time, as we can see elsewhere now."

He added: “We dishonour those who gave their lives 80 years ago if we squander their sacrifice.”

The 12 airfields were Hurn, Christchurch, Winkton, Lymington, Holmsley, Calshot, Needs Oar Point, Beaulieu, Stoney Cross, Sway, Ibsley and Bisterne.