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"This story was submitted to the site by the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Peoples War Team in the East Midlands with Allan Robsinsons permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

I served five years in the marines and never went abroad and never saw any action. I did a lot of training as a signalman in the first few years. I also witnessed a lot of the blitz over London and this is where I saw my first dead body.

In 1944 I joined the armoured support group of the Royal Marines – this unit consisted of tank landing craft with two tanks on the decks minus their engines. These were to be used mainly for their fire power, the idea being that on D-Day we could be called to any particular part of the coast to bombard it. As a signaler I was on the bridge when we had a major exercise along with the American forces which was over seen by Montgomery. He decided that the tanks would become mobile so that they could go ashore. This meant that as a signalman I went into the tank, which I detested.

During a further exercise I was hit in the stomach with the recoil of a gun. I was sent into the naval hospital at Bristol were I was successfully operated on. Then after a few days I contracted post operative pneumonia. My wife was sent a telegram. When she got it, it politely suggested to her that she should come and visit me. She did come with my Mum and Dad and stayed a few days in Bristol. I’d been unconscious for a few days – while they were with me I came back to life. During my stay in hospital D-day took place, so I missed it all. I can remember lying in the hospital bed thinking how unlucky I was that I had missed it. I had trained for all those years then I missed the final push. It did however gradually dawn on me in hospital, seeing all the men come back in pieces, that I was the lucky one.

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