´óÏó´«Ã½

Eventually D Day arrived. I stood up in the LCA as usual and we made our way to the beaches. By standing up. I witnessed a sight that I have never forgotten. No matter which way you looked the sea was black with landing craft making their way to the French beaches and the sky was amass of air craft making their way in the same direction as ,the landing craft and battleships pounding he coast with broadsides. As the landing craft got nearer the beach the noise from the guns and from the exploding shells became more intense.

When we landed the water was quite deep. I was up to my back pack in water. In front of me was a shorter squadie, he must have been standing on tip toe to keep his head above water and as he continued through the water, and he must have found a hole in the sand as he just vanished . Two of us saw what had happened to him and we managed to grab on of his arms each and lifted him up until he had both feet out of the hole then we continued on our way. He carried a lot of weight apart from his own gear and rifle. He carried explosives and Bangalore torpedoes. Bangalore torpedoes were steel tubes with bayonet fitting ends filled with an explosive. These were used to make gaps in barbed wire. Each tube was fitted into another until the correct length was reached a fuse was fitted and then lit and you retired a short distance away and a hole was blown in the barbed wire to make a pathway through.

When we got ashore amid the shelling and machine gun fire we reached the road and turned right as we had been instructed and we met some of our troops coming towards us. Apparently the tide had taken us too far along the beach and we had to do an about turn. And on our way back we had to dodge the empty shell case the tank crews were throwing overboard.

Going back along the road a shell landed a bit to close for comfort, and Cooper, one of our section was hit in the arm by shrapnel. We used his field service dressing to dress his wound then carried on our way. We hadn’t gone very far when another shell landed to close and Copper was hit again, this time in the leg. We dressed the wound and helped him to a first aid post wished him luck and caught up with our unit.

We came to a wooded area and there we meet some resistance. A sergeant was standing near to me, and he ‘There they are’. They were the last words he ever spoke. I learnt a lesson at that moment, which was to shoot first and then say there they are afterwards. It took some time to clear the wood and on the way to our objective we came across a concrete bunker into which hand grenades were lobbed and it was decided not to go inside.

It was early evening when we reached our objective, and fortunately our casualties were few. We were told to dig in and keep alert. We really didn’t need to be told to keep alert as the enemy were not all that far away and machine gun and artillery fire was constant from both sides.

Two of us dug a slit trench, then word came along that were here for the night. Out came the ration packs and the little stoves which were lit and a welcome cup of tea was made. The tea sugar and milk were in small packets and hot water was poured over the powder. The surroundings didn’t make eating very appetising. In front of us was a huge bomb crater and strewn all round were human body parts. Guard duty times were arranged and when you were not on guard you endeavoured to get some sleep, which was difficult with continuous gunfire. And without sleep you tend to get careless which could prove fatal.

We pushed along and found we had reached Bayeux. It was here that we had a little set to in a graveyard and using tombstones for cover.

One thing nobody ever mentions is that no matter who you are and what the situation is they have to have bodily functions and you took your life in your hands to do so.

It is now nearing the end of June and we were pulled back for a rest. We had slit trenches along a hedge row and we were just in front of our three inch mortars. This proved almost fatal for me. The mortar crews opened fire and it was not long before the enemy found the range and a bomb hit a tree branch a couple of feet above my head. Wasn’t wearing my tin hat a and my tunic was riddled with holes and the French Phrase book I had in my map pocket of my trousers was ripped. I still have that phrase book. A piece of shrapnel ripped my hand and couldn’t use two of my fingers. The fellow sharing the trench with me was unharmed. I eventually finished up in The Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. I can’t thank the Glaswegians enough for their hospitality.

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