Treasured football boots, love letters and bloody tags tell veterans’ poignant D-Day stories.

John Dennett, 99, from Wallasey, was one of four veterans invited to the special meeting at the palace. He joined the Royal Navy aged 17 in March 1942 and trained to become a gunner. He unloaded troops and heavy equipment at Sword Beach in Normandy and returned wounded troops and prisoners to Portsmouth.

The King appeared moved as Mr Dennett told him: “When you look back at the boys we lost, it was colossal. It’s scary. But then you feel grateful for what you’ve been through.”

Mr Dennett took a photograph of his wife Joyce, to whom he wrote love letters throughout the war, having met her in England before leaving for D-Day. They married two years after the war ended.

He added: “I consider myself very lucky and appreciate that I can do what I can now and enjoy the life we’ve all fought for.”

Camilla asked 100-year-old Bernard Morgan, the youngest RAF sergeant to land on Gold Beach: “What memories do you have of D-Day itself?”

Mr Morgan, from Crewe, Cheshire, replied: “When I got off the beach from the landing craft tank the army were there picking up the poor soldiers who drowned on the initial landing.”

He showed Charles and Camilla the sturdy brown football boots he had taken with him and tied to his rucksack in an attempt to play whenever he could forget his surroundings – and revealed that he even managed a match as they sailed to Normandy.

He said: “These are football boots that I wore throughout the war. I played 12 football games, including one on the landing craft going to Normandy”

The king said to him: “I don’t think so… How fantastic. They are remarkably well preserved.”

Mr Morgan joked they were “way past the sell-by date” and revealed the Army v RAF match leading up to D-Day ended in a draw.

The King and Queen listened intently as Arthur Oborne, 100, of the 49th Division of the 6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, told how he was shot in the lung three days after arriving on Gold Beach.

His life was saved by his friend Walter, who was killed the next day along with the rest of his unit.

Mr Oborne, of Portishead, near Bristol, said: “These are the dog tags that were recovered after I got a bullet through the lungs and there’s still blood on some of them… He saved me and as a family he didn’t we will never be able to. forget him. I found out that he was killed the next day… I visited his grave several times.”

Camilla said: “It must be very hard to remember everything.”

Also there was Jim Miller, who just turned 100 and hit the headlines last week after being personally presented with a 100th birthday card from the King.

Mr Miller, who was born in Hackney, east London, but now lives in South Wales, served in the 11th Hussars Reconnaissance Regiment during the Second World War and landed on Juno Beach.

“Remembering is so important. The younger generation must learn about it and take it to heart,” he told the King and Queen.

Displaying a photo of George VI with General Montgomery, the king spoke of the monarch’s wartime frustration at not being allowed to travel to Normandy immediately.

“My grandfather was so determined to go. He became very frustrated because they didn’t let him go until a few days later,” Charles said.

Reading from George VI’s diary of June 6, labeled D-Day, Charles said: “This was my grandfather’s diary. That was his entry on D-Day. “At 8 o’clock in the morning the news broke that the invasion of the continent of Europe had begun last night.

“‘Airborne troops successfully landed at night and captured their objectives.’ So that was something.”

The King and Queen will attend Britain’s national commemoration in Portsmouth on Wednesday and travel to Normandy on Thursday, as will the Prince of Wales, to honor those who fought in the biggest seaborne invasion in history on June 6 1944.

Operation Overlord saw Allied forces stage a full-scale invasion of Nazi-occupied France that ultimately turned the tide of World War II in favor of the Allies.

D-Day 80: Tribute To The Fallen will be broadcast live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 8.30pm on 5 June

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