Six statues have been unveiled at Castletown harbour, evoking Portland's historic role in the D-Day landings during the Second Word War.

The statues, representing six wartime figures, were unveiled on the Phoenix caissons at Castletown's Mulberry harbour yesterday, marking the 74th anniversary of the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944.

The statues comprise two US GIs - to commemorate the many hundreds of thousands who came through Portland ahead of D-Day - two Portland dockyard 'mateys' and two British naval figures, an officer and a rating.

Castletown D-Day Centre is behind the statues, and Derek Luckhurst, who founded the centre in March 2017, noted that the unveiling was 'a big moment' for the museum.

"On the 74th anniversary of D-Day, these statues serve as a tribute to the American GIs, the British Navy and the local dockyard workers," Mr Luckhurst told the Echo.

Getting the three-quarter-ton stone figures onto the breakwaters had, he added, been 'a serious logistical challenge'.

"It would never have happened without the help of the Portland Harbour Authority," he said.

Former sailor Alf Harding - who participated in D-Day, landing on Sword Beach - unveiled an information board on the statues within the museum following speeches from Mr Luckhurst and Portland Mayor Charlie Flack, as well as readings from mayor's chaplain Dave Farmer.

A ceremony in Victoria Gardens, Portland, was also held to mark the anniversary, officiated by the mayor and the chaplain, with wreaths laid by Ollie Edenborough, a 13-year-old volunteer from the D-Day centre, and Poppy Butcher, who was working on Portland docks at the time of D-Day.

Mrs Butcher, aged 89, retains vivid memories of the lead-up to the operation. "I remember all the troop trucks coming up here," she recalled, gesturing to the road adjacent to the gardens. "They renamed it Victory Road afterwards."

Mrs Butcher is a familiar face at war commemorations, and laid the memorial stone that adorns Victoria Gardens; she also helps organise the borough's annual wartime vehicle parade, which she started in 1994 with her late husband. In honour of her community work, she is a freeman of the borough - the sole woman to have been granted freeman status.

Her friend and former Weymouth and Portland mayor Jess Nagel noted that Mrs Butcher was an 'exceptional pillar of the community'.

Cllr Flack meanwhile noted the importance of remembering the sacrifices made on D-Day. "We have to remind the younger generation of what happened," he said.

In his speech, Cllr Flack paid tribute to the 'ever-dwindling number of surviving D-Day veterans, without whose brave actions we wouldn't be here to enjoy the freedoms of today'.

Also attending was Ken Isaac, who said he was 'proud' to attend the ceremony in memory of his uncle, Ernest 'Jim' Marshall, who worked as a dockyard 'matey' during the war and who has been immortalised as one of the six statues now standing on the breakwater.

"It's good to see so many people interested," said Mr Isaac, who was born on the peninsula. "Sometimes it seems that people aren't that interested in what happened in the past."

Young volunteer Ollie, a student at All Saints School, revealed that he had long been interested in history, "I really enjoy re-enactment, and helping out the curator at the D-Day centre," he said. "It is my passion, and I think it's important to keep history alive."

Dorchester's Keep Military Museum meanwhile hosted its own D-Day commemoration yesterday morning.

Retired vicar Alan Woods led the prayers and hymns, while the Durnovaria Silver Band played and Dorchester Mayor David Taylor laid a wreath.

"It was a wonderful event," said museum curator Chris Copson. "We had a couple of D-Day veterans come along, and the degree of admiration you have for these guys is difficult to measure."

He added that an even bigger event was planned for next year's 75th anniversary, including a book on the history of the county's regiments.