Instead of the usual slow start, people began arriving thick and fast, and Joanne Bater's NAAFI Wagon was soon doing brisk business supplying the now traditional tea and bread pudding breakfast.

The focus was on the Normandy Campaign and the Battle of Arnhem, which took place 65 years ago. Among the crowds and gathered around tables in the Victory Marquee were dozens of blue and red berets belonging to veterans of both campaigns.

On Saturday they were rewarded by a visit from "the Forces Sweetheart" herself, Dame Vera Lynn. Despite her 92 years, Dame Vera signed dozens of autographs, shook hands with veterans, exchanged memories and posed for hundreds of photographs. 

Among the military vehicles at the show were several that saw action on the Normandy beaches, most notably the powerful Caterpillar D8 bulldozer, which visited Normandy again this year, and Rex Cadman's Sherman BARV.

Perhaps more elegant was the Rolls Royce Silver Wraith which unloaded from a tank landing craft on D-Day + 3, and which General Montgomery used throughout the campaign.  It now lives in the Royal Logistics Corps Museum at Deepcut.

Batting for the other side was Bruce Crompton's deadly looking 88mm gun and transporter, which took the prize for the best German exhibit. This "tank buster" might have sent shivers down the spines of veterans who saw it.

Visitors were rewarded with dozens of new displays. 

How many people knew the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Light Railway ran an armoured train with machine gunners who downed at least one German fighter? Yet there was a replica of the train with a display of its wartime history, just down from the Victory Marquee.

On the Sunday we were visited by Lachhima Gurung, reminding us there was a war in the Far East as well as in Europe. Lachhima was awarded the VC after beating off a ferocious attack from the Japanese despite being badly wounded.

The First World War is usually under represented at War and Peace. This year the vehicle voted Best In Show was a Pierce Arrow dating from 1915, which saw service in France during the Great War. There was also a living history display depicting a typical First World War trench.

An army marches on its stomach, so they say, and the Royal Logistics Museum display showed how the thousands of men awaiting embarkation for Normandy were provided with good healthy meals despite a lack of facilities. Dixies of nourishing stew were brewed up on camp ovens constructed of nothing more than mud and bricks.

There were changes to the entertainment programme this year with many of the acts concentrated into a two-hour afternoon variety show, although there was still plenty going on at other times, with the authentic wartime sounds of the Jive Aces, the Swingtime Sweethearts and Kas.

Overhead the massive, powerful Lancaster bomber contrasted massively with the tiny fragile Piper Cub spotter plane belonging to Anthony Bendkowski. And who can fail to be thrilled by the throaty roar of the Spitfire which zoomed overhead, accompanied this year for the first time by a Messerschmitt. 

Everyone with an interest in military history would have found something to fascinate them at the War and Peace Show this year. Those with no particular interest would also found the event to be an exciting and entertaining day out.