DURING the excellent television coverage of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, only the coldest of hearts would have felt little by way of thanks to all those concerned at the time. Of course, mere words, themselves, do not, cannot, do full justice to that apocalyptic time in Europe. Very few times in our country's history has democracy's moral tipping point come so perilously close. That courage and sacrifice and determination of an astonishing quality should triumph against such an abhorrent concept as Fascism and against the disciples of its vile creed speaks volumes for some deep, unknowing reserve of goodness in us as ordinary folk.

Just the same, lest we forget, such days of fine, valid, prideful remembrances also carry with them terrible echoes of man's inhumanity to man. Sadly, if ironically, flags and uniforms and oratory and fly-pasts and badges and medals may also be seen as a lasting indictment of the obverse of the aforementioned "goodness" of people: that is, the deceitful and convoluted thinking in still too many of us that naked power, greed, territorialism and self-seeking should hold sway in our dealings with one another, whether at the individual or the international level. Conflicts are extant all over the world; famine is rife in many areas, starvation in a world of plenty; religious and racial intolerance on our very doorstop; the division between rich and poor growing ever larger; homelessness and begging and food banks are endemic and right-wing ideologies in mainland Europe are making a terrifying comeback, and all the while we are slowly but surely suffocating ourselves and our planet in respect of climate change. Global, peaceful co-existence is still a pipe dream, it seems.

I give sincere thanks to the veterans of D-Day that I, my children and grandchildren and those who follow us were born free at the cost of their sacrifice, and, perhaps, at the of the day, war is simply something that mankind "catches" rather, as explained by Erich Maria Remarque, in his epic exposition of the so-called war to end all wars, All Quiet of the Western Front: "I think it is more of a kind of fever ... No one in particular wants it, and then all at once there it is. We didn't want the war, the others say the same thing – and yet half the world is in it all the same.”

Still, the haunting final words of Pete Seeger in "Where Have all the Flowers Gone, his crushing assessment of us as a rational, humane species, beg the vital question, "When will we ever learn?"

Gerard McCulloch, Saltcoats.

WATCHING the coverage of the 75th anniversary of D-Day commemorations must have been a very emotional occasion, bringing many to tears, as it did myself. I have visited Pegasus Bridge in its original site and all the area of the beaches on many occasions. I have watched that coastline begin to appear out of the morning mists as the sun rose and then travelled through the still sleeping, peaceful towns that border it, and thought of all the young men on that fateful morning for whom that scene was the last they ever saw in this world, of the fear and dread they must have felt and the courage they still mustered to forge ahead on our behalf. What a debt we owe them.

Yet watching yesterday managed at the same time to engender feelings of anger and revulsion at the sheer hypocrisy on view. To see Donald Trump, who dodged national service in his own country sitting beside the Queen, who as a teenager continued to live in London and became involved personally in war work, seemed to me an insult to the whole purpose and ethos of the commemoration.

For him to have any association whatever with celebrating “world peace”, let alone speaking of it, is beyond hypocrisy. This is a man who, in the short time he has been President, has antagonised some of the most unstable and volatile countries in the world by trying to bully them into submission. Does it really honour the Americans who died on these beaches, that most of the wars with the most dire consequences for ordinary civilians in the years since 1944 have been caused by American attempts to be world policemen?

The only part of the world reasonably successful in maintaining peace has been the EU. Yet our Westminster Government is intent on leaving that coalition of mutually successful, common endeavour in favour of throwing in our lot with a bully whose notion of promoting peace rests on coercion and “punishment” until all bow before him.

L McGregor, Falkirk.

MARGARET Forbes (Letters, June 5) does well to remind us that America did not enter the Second World War in defence of Britain. While Britain went through the dark days of Dunkirk and St Valery, the U-boat war of 1939-41, the Battle of Britain of 1940 and the Blitz of 1940-41 it should be remembered that Congress sat on its hands throughout and refused to intervene.

Even when the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 dragged America into war in the Pacific, Congress limited its response to declaration of war against Japan, steering clear of any mention of the European conflict.

Only when Germany and Italy did indeed declare war on America (December 11, 1941) did Congress respond in kind and so the United States was finally dragged into the European war more than two years after it started.

John Roxburgh, Bishopton.

MARGARET Forbes is quite correct to state that the US was tardy in entering the First and Second World Wars, but when it did, especially in the Second World War, its industrial and manpower might turned the tables in our favour.

She then goes on to state "their actions created the Cold War" but gives no examples.

In 1945, there were roughly three million US service personnel in western Europe. By 1950, this number had been reduced by about two-thirds. Doubtless, this run-down was supported by the American military's belief that they would be the sole possessor of nuclear weapons for many years to come, although the Russians exploded their first atomic weapon in 1949, so from 1950 onwards, the numbers of US servicemen based in Europe started to rise significantly. By this time, the civil governments of the eastern bloc countries consisted almost entirely of communist politicians who had been installed by the advancing Soviet troops from 1944 onwards, making a mockery of any promises regarding free elections. Finally, in 1948, the Russians imposed a road blockade on Berlin, which required the RAF, USAF and French air forces to fly in supplies for several months in order to keep the city alive and functioning.

Finally, in 1961, the East Germans built the wall in Berlin, although that was more an act of hostility against their own population, rather than a potential act of aggression against any western power.

Christopher W Ide, Waterfoot.

Read more: The moment a 'nerve wracked' lone Scots piper marked the exact time the D-Day landings started