大象传媒

Leaving very early on June 6th from just off the Isle of Wight, the crossing was very rough; finally we made it and landed on Gold Beach near Arromanches. We were seconded and landed in support of 8th Armoured Division, which meant we landed in an unorthodox manner on board of Rhine rafts in company of several tanks; this allowed the tanks and us to get much closer to the beach and to float over the beach obstacles. This suited me as I was now no 2 on a Bren gun and therefore had a carrier of Bren Gun Magazines to lug ashore.
We were staffed by german aircraft and could not get out of the water and off that beach fast enough. The light was fading and we had run into a mass of minefields by now, but we had to find the route though and make our way about a mile inland to our rendevous point which turned out to be farmyard.
June 7th.
After a short sleep and eating some emergency rations we were allocated to our own vehicles which were full of engineering equipment and explosives, and sent of in support of the 8th Armoured brigades tanks which were fighting their was through a village called Tilley on the way to Bayeux. We reained in that area for the next few days before pressing on to an area beyond bayeux and finishing up in an orchard where we were regularly shelled by the Germans.
After about 3 weeks we moved forward to Villers Bocage with our divison. It was in this area that we were called up by our infantry division who had lost 7 men in an area belonginf to a chateau where they were sheltering behind a wall. we split into three groups to sweep the areas and clear the ruins. I was in charge of Group 2 and after we and Group 1 had completed our tasks I went in search of Group 3, walking along the outside of the wall through the lodge gates and heading towards them They indicated to me to stop as I was walking through the minefield. At that moment there was an explosion and my friend Denis had his foot blown off, another one was hit in the stomach and the corporal was blinded. I then had to get out of the minefield, come round behind them and carry Denis to a vehicle, along with the other injured which then took them to a field hospital. the rest of us completed the mine clearance.
A week after this incident I was given a course of pills which knocked me out for 72 hours before returning to duty. I realise now I probably had post traumatic stress.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.