大象传媒

SPLASH DOWN.

After lunch and some interesting conversation it was time to go back onto the quayside to board the DUKW for a trip on the river Thames. By this time another DUKW had arrived, this one was for all the Press and Media to board, I was aghast when I saw the colour that it was painted, a horrible bright Yellow.
We drove through the centre of London to a slipway at Vauxhall Bridge, but before we could enter the water we had to change drivers, when I asked why this
was necessary I could not believe or understand the answer given, I was told that to drive one of these vehicles on water you had to have a 鈥淢ariners Certificate鈥�
to comply with Health and Safety regulations, I wonder what happened to those regulations on D-DAY?

We went down the slipway and into the water it was a very strange feeling being aboard a DUKW again albeit as a passenger, I just felt that it should have been me sitting in the drivers seat, I must admit it brought back many, many memories it was something I never thought I would ever experience again. We travelled down the Thames as far as the House of Commons then turned round there and returned to HMS Belfast by the same route. They鈥檙e to end a very remarkable, exciting and memorable day, before catching the train home.

REMEMBERANCE AND NOSTALGIA

After the London trip it took me a couple of days to come back down to earth so to speak. On Friday 21st May I phoned Freddie Smith but it did not come as a shock to him as Dougie had already phoned him to tell him that he had met me and that I would be getting in touch. However his wife Shiela answered the phone first and I am very glad she did in a way because she told me a few important facts about his medical and physical condition. Firstly he was now wheel chair bound, although he had received two operations for hip replacements, he had also got serious problems with his Prostate Gland for which he was under going treatment at the present time, I was really very grateful for that information, for when I actually got to speak to him these problems where not mentioned.
Naturally we had rather a long conversation, reminiscing about the time we spent together, particularly during the Normandy campaign. It turned out that he only lives a short distance from the DUXFORD Imperial War Museum, which is an old Wartime Airdrome, mainly dedicated to the conservation of planes that were used during WW2.
As Fred was a member there and had been invited to the 60th anniversary and flying display on Sunday the 6th of June he suggested that it might be a good time and place if we could arrange for us to have a reunion there and I agreed. He said he would contact Duxford to try and get free passes for us to get in and this he did, unfortunately he was unable to pick up the tickets until Friday the 4th June so that meant we would have to meet outside of the museum so it was arranged that we would meet Fred and his wife Shiela on McDonald鈥檚 car park which was behind a garage about one mile from Duxford.
Once again it fell to Martin and Janice to take me, now Duxford is situated right on junction 10 off the M11 after coming off at this junction we had to turn left and travel just about a mile away from Duxford to the garage were Shiela was waiting to wave us into and round the back to McDonald鈥檚 car park where Freddie and I had our emotional re-union after sixty long years, it was then back into the cars to do the one mile journey back to Duxford. What an absolute nightmare this short journey turned out to be, the longest mile ever, how long did it take us to travel that one mile do you think?, Three Hours, what a relief it
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was to get into Duxford and out of the car for more than one reason, It was by now getting quite warm.!

The veterans had their own enclosure with all facilities laid on for the service and air display. I must confess I am not a great enthusiast of aircraft and found the noise horrendous as some of the modern planes flew past.
The static displays there are set out in different hangers, and the one Freddie wanted me to see was in the one furthest away, it contained vehicles and weapons from WW2, to reach this hanger involved quite a long walk, at this point I really envied Freddie in his wheel chair, but I managed the walk o-k. The main reason behind visiting this site was the fact that in it was displayed an original DUKW, so Freddie and I had our photos taken standing in front of it.
After a long and tiring day it was time to head back to the car park, and say our farewells, it had been yet another fantastic and most memorable day out, we did of cause promise to stay in touch

CONTACTS OF INTEREST.

Sat.22nd of May I received in the post the rush tape that was actually seen on French T/Von the evening of 18th May, from Nic Boothby the Producer for which I am really grateful even though it was all in French and lasted only about five minuets, the same day I also received a letter from Douggie, giving me the address of the sec. Of the Birmingham branch of the Normandy Veterans Association he also told me that an Arthur Smith from France would be getting in touch with me as he had a friend that was in the same R.A.S.C.Coy as me, that should be interesting!.

Monday 25th May I went for a days fishing at Jubilee pool, near to my daughter Lynne鈥檚 home, about midday a car pulled into the car park, out gets an elderly couple, out comes the chairs and they sat enjoying a picnic and watching me fish as I was the only person fishing and catching very well I might add. I was on the opposite side of the pool to where they sat. After they had finished their meal the old chap came round to watch me and for a chat, a short while after he just said to me, I bet you are an old soldier aren鈥檛 you, yes I replied, then started to tell me that he was an ex-navel rating on board one of the Landing Craft that operated on the same beach as I landed on (JUNO) what was more interesting was that he had written two books about his experiences, although they were now both out of print. We exchanged addresses, as he wanted to send me extracts from his stories.

SHOCK.

On Monday the 1st of June, sitting watching T/V as normal, when the news came on at six o鈥檆lock, there I was being interviewed on Central News, it came as a real shock to Irene and myself I can tell you, It was of a clip from the interview I did for London Central News at HMS.Belfast on the 18th May. I had no time to put a tape in the Video to tape it so I did the next best thing,
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I sent an E-Mail to the news desk asking if they would send me a copy of the tape they had used, much to my surprise they said yes they would send me a copy, I used the word surprise because when son Martin asked the producer when I actually did the interview in London if they would let me have a copy of the interview, he was
told there鈥檚 no way they could do that as the TV company had stopped them being supplied. However true to their word ITV. Midlands Central News did send me a copy and I received it on the 15th July, it is only about 5minutes long but I am very pleased to have it, very pleased.
Saturday 5th June. I could not wait to get the Express newspaper, as this was the Saturday that the article written by James Rampton about me on D-Day was to appear in the Saturday Magazine supplement sure enough there it was along with a picture of me, although not long it was a very nice story.

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