- Contributed by听
- SMITHY34
- People in story:听
- David Alexander Wallis
- Location of story:听
- Gold Beach, D-Day
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A2681660
- Contributed on:听
- 31 May 2004
My father, David Wallis, landed on D-Day with the Durham Light Infantry, part of the 50th Div. His orders were to get his men off the beach and head in land as far they could until they met and engaged German resistance. Each man had a bicycle to help them travel that bit faster.
They got off the beach relatively unscathed, although one of the men in his group lost a boot. The first Germans they met were two returning to the town with a small pale of milk for their breakfast. They were stunned to see British soldiers cycling down the road. They thought all the noise was an air raid or shelling in England.
The Germans were unarmed so having liberated a boot for one of the platoon the DLI hopped on the bikes and headed on their way, leaving the bemused POW's behind.
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