大象传媒

Interview with Jimmy Telford (aged 80 and six months) by Georgia Keenan (Age 9)

Q1. In the first world war soldiers would take P.O.W. (prisoners of war), unpin a hand grenade and tell them to run for their lives. Did you play games like that?

A. No.

Q2. What regiment were you in?

A. The Royal Marine Commandos.

Q3. What beach did you land on on D Day and what was your job?

A. Juno Beach, to capture and immobilise a radar station 2 miles inland.

Q4. What equipment did you carry?

A. Full marching order rifle and bangalore torpedoes for blowing up barbed wire fences, tied on a bicycle.

Jimmy goes on to tell me that the men in front of him, running off the landing barges, had been shot and were blocking the men behind from exiting. They were forced to jump over the sides of the barges into about 5 feet of water. Because of the weight they were carrying, men were drowning. Jimmy threw his bike away before jumping over and his sergeant told him he would be on a charge for damaging and losing the King's property. Jimmy still saw this as funny even though men were being shot at and drowning around him.

When he was in the water near the beach his friend was shot and dying. He wanted a cigarette but the cigarettes given to the soldiers were wet and useless from the water. A man from a Lancashire regiment was taking shelter near them and Jimmy asked him for a cigarette for his friend. Bullets and shell fire was all around them. The man wanted to trade his cigarette for a commando cap badge. Jimmy says he swore a bit and the man handed over the cigarette. He saw the funny side of that too.

Q5. How old were you on D-Day?

A. 20 years and six months.
Jimmy is now 80 years and six months.

Q6. Did you know what you were going to do when you got on the boat to France and were you frightened?

A. We were locked in a camp for 2 weeks and we were briefed every day what our task would be. There was a plasticine model of the beach where we were to land and every detail was on it. The village, all the buildings, shops and gun emplacements. The village was called Leon Sum Mer. I was not frightened because I was only 20 years old and didn't believe I could be hurt.

Jimmy also says that the men had been locked in the camp and when they were near the time to go to France, the local village was evacuated and all the men were taken to the cinema. No-one outside the marines were allowed near them so that the invasion would remain a secret.

In the barracks the men were given a bucket of water to wash in for all of them. When everyone had washed, the men with false teeth would ask if everyone was finished. They would then clean their false teeth in the bucket of water!

Q7. Were you injured at all or did you get through the war safely?

A. I was uninjured from D-Day to the end of the war.

Q8. Did you get to go home after Normandy or were you sent to fight more?

A. We fought throughout the campaign till we crossed the Rhine into Germany.

Q9. When were you de mobbed and where were you?

A. I was de mobbed at Chatham Barracks in Chattam, May 1946.

Q10. Did you get any medals?

A. 3 medals including a D-Day medal.

Q11. My other Uncle told me to ask Uncle Jimmy what instrument he played in the war?

A. Jimmy didn't bother to answer this one!!

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