My father was one of a volunteer crew who took a Dutch minesweeper across the Channel so that the Dutch flag was flown on D-day. He said that the worst thing was seeing the faces of those soldiers swept back against the ship as they were killed before they could properly set foot on the Normandy beaches.
As we remember their sacrifice, we should recollect that we were fighting against a monstrous tyrant who began by getting himself elected through promising to make Germany great again.
Seventy-five years on we prepare to welcome an American president who supports Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage in their Brexit campaigns because this is his chance to detach Britain from Europe (Trump arrives amid rising anger at US trade demands, 3 June).
This is Trump’s opportunity to buy up Britain at bargain basement prices and to open up our NHS to private American healthcare companies. This is his chance to embroil us in his trade wars, which will lead us to war as surely as in 1939. This battle is bigger than Brexit: this has become a battle for western civilisation.
Margaret Phelps
Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan
• If Trump succeeds in exploiting UK vulnerability in a post-EU environment by getting the country to fall in line with US food standards (President will play to gallery at home, with royals as extras, 3 June), those who cannot afford to follow a 100% organic diet are in for an unpalatable future.
Here in the US, where corporate profits take priority over consumers’ health, the lack of regulations means that unpronounceable artificial additives are used to preserve and “enhance” a myriad of foodstuffs. Consumption of these ubiquitous additives has been linked to cancer, memory loss, and skin and nerve problems. I hope your National Health Service is equipped to handle the inevitable increase in demand.
Karen Thatcher-Smith
Sonoma, California, USA
• Transplanted to the United States from Britain, I can honestly say that this is not the country I moved to 30 years ago. This is in large part to the ascendance of Donald Trump to the presidency of this country.
The American citizens I know are good, generous, honest people – unlike the president we have today and the members of Congress who blindly support his egregious behaviour.
I applaud the citizens of my home country in protesting against the visit of Donald Trump (and his family) to their country.
Lin Bootle
Montpelier, Vermont, USA
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