EUROPE : Britain’s Lavish D-Day Plans Lead to Bid to Call It All Off

Suddenly the long-heralded 50th anniversary of D-day has become as controversial a political issue in Britain as it has elsewhere in Europe.

After investing millions of dollars and thousands of hours of planning and preparation to commemorate the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944, many voices here are suggesting: Let’s call the whole thing off.

The opposition Labor and Liberal parties say ceremonies that should commemorate the servicemen who died on that fateful day have been turned into a celebratory circus by the Conservative government.

They claim that the anniversary, which will involve thousands of Americans, is being hijacked by the faltering government of Prime Minister John Major to capitalize on patriotic good feeling shortly before local and Europarliament elections.

The British Defense Ministry’s initial position was: Nothing special for D-day but a big effort next year for V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.

But Major, alert to the potential political gain, overruled this view and preparations proceeded apace, some involving the Americans, Britons and Canadians who landed on the Normandy beaches 50 years ago.

He decided to have ceremonies with 13 heads of state and government from the Allied nations that participated in “Operation Overlord,” as the invasion was known.

Tourist boards on both sides of the English Channel, imagining hotels and restaurants full and cash registers ringing, joined in to lure veterans and their relatives to the scene of the event that led to the end of World War II and the restoration of democracy in Europe.

The Defense Ministry was assigned to handle military activities: parades, flyovers, fleet reviews, military museum exhibitions. The Heritage Ministry would supervise the civilian side of the anniversary.

About 500 local events have now been planned in Britain alone.

But somewhere along the way, planners got carried away with street parties and booze fests in pubs--in short, a national celebration to mark the anniversary, and thereby remind the world of Britain at its best.

In the last few days, a deep reaction set in, perhaps triggered by the announcement that the government would sponsor a huge jamboree in London’s Hyde Park that seemed to have little to do with D-day.

The British Legion, a leading veterans group, and the Normandy Veterans’ Assn. vehemently objected to Major’s description of “celebrations” rather than “commemorations” to remember the thousands killed and wounded in the invasion.

The veterans particularly objected to the Hyde Park hoopla, and in their cause they enlisted Dame Vera Lynn, a sweetheart singer who enchanted lonely World War II servicemen with “We’ll Meet Again.”

Late this week, after the matter was raised in an argumentative House of Commons, the government belatedly agreed to solicit advice from veterans groups on how best to observe D-day. Heritage Secretary Peter Brooke, at Major’s insistence, gave a series of interviews in which he stressed the commemorative nature of the events.

And Eddy Hannath, general secretary of the Normandy Veterans’ Assn., said, “We are happier now than we were last week.”

In a public opinion poll published Friday, 65% of those questioned said street parties and fireworks displays would trivialize the anniversary.

The poll also showed that one in three did not know what happened June 6, 1944.