大象传媒

As a Royal Signals Radio Operator, after training from January 1942,and a period of time with the 79th Armoured Division in the U.K., I was sent to Combined Operations Command at a Naval shore base named HMS Dundonald in Scotland, where we practised amphibious landings for many months. Then, in early 1944, I was assigned to join the crew of a small Landing Craft Headquarters vessel (LCH100) berthed with hundreds of others in Southampton Docks.
We knew that the invasion was imminent, as we were visited by both Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower. who wished us "God Speed".
At this time I also celebrated my twentyfirst birthday on 21st May..confined to ship, and only a few tots of rum to assist the celebration.
Then - our time was nigh, and, after a twentyfour hour postponement because of bad weather, we set off on June 5th, although conditions were almost as bad;the night was black; the vessel pitched and rolled so much that most of us were too concerned with "mal de mer" to worry about what lay in front of us.
What was in fron of us, and all around us, became evident at dawn on that never-to-be-forgotten day -June 6th 1944.
We had arrived at a point a hundred yards off shore from the Normandy coast at Arromanches(Gold Beach). The grey sky was lightened by the flashes of rockets, shells of all sizes, and flares.The sea was scarcely to be seen, covered as it was by a vast array of ships, some of them firing at coastal targets, and others disgorging an army of men into smaller craft, which hurriedly made for shore to lower their ramps and remove the human cargo. Enemy activity consisted of thd few remaining strongpoints firing their "88's" at the fleet, but doing little damage before they were eliminated.
Once the Beachhead had been established, our job was to link Beach Signallers with the heavily-armed cruisers and battleships; directing their fire at pin-pointed targets both on-shore and inland.
Within forty eight hours all was secure, and our work was done.
For the next few days we patrolled the area just off the beaches, and the only real danger came from mines dropped at night by German planes.
It was after one of these night drops that somebody was watching over me....
When not on radio duty, one of my supplementary jobs was to man the forward Oerlikon gun situated in the bows.On this occasion I was so placed, watching the bows as we cleaved the water parallel to the shore.
A small Landing Craft Personnel, carrying a group of senior officers, sped past us on our starboard side. As I waved to them, they cut across our bows, and moved ahead on the same tack.When they were about fifty yards in front of us, there was an almighty explosion, and they disappeared in an instant, having obviously struck a mine.The only evidence of the disaster was a motley collection of ripped clothing and some headgear drifting on the surface. It was a sobering thought that, had they not passed in front of us, within a minute or two we would have hit that mine.
There, but for the Grace of God, indeed !
Well, I survived that, and, after service in India, Ceylon and Singapore with Louis Mountbatten during the next two and a half years, finally reached Liverpool in January 1947 on the liner "Georgic"; demob at last - and home once more.

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