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How did the DUKWs fare in the seaway?

They were very good actually. They did all they could be asked. I thought, considering how quickly they were built....

How were they carried across the Channel? On a large container ship?

No, went in an LST which had a ramp. We drove in and reversed out. Coming off, the boat taking us in floats ashore, and that's where we were. Then the boat would turn round and ...

It's interesting you didn't reverse and drive her forward.

Well, if you do that and you're not careful, the boat will sink.

Really?

Better to go in the other way. If you drive it, you get a better view too. And it's very difficult reversing on.

I suppose a DUKW is ungainly to reverse.

Yes, you can't see where you're going.

Were you held long...?

Something to show you..... you had to have a fair amount of space front and rear. I'd say that we probably didn't get a three ton, two and a half load on. But for ammo and things like that…

That's heavy stuff....You can still see one of these trundling around London.

Yes. We were over in Boston a few years ago and they've got them taking people on trips round the town and into the harbour.

We've got as far as getting on to the beach and taking shelter behind the LCT or whatever it was on the landing beach. The DUKWs were between the LCT and the sand dunes, so they had shelter from any incoming fire from the sea. There were aircraft coming straight in, and from the other way, from anything shaping up....So they were in reasonable safety until we got them off the beach. There was a hitch there in that the German resistance was tougher than expected. We didn't expect to clear the area completely when we went in because when you advance you put your assault troops, commandos, etc through quickly, beating a way through and going on, and then the follow-up troops... In the beach group I was in we had a battalion of infantry. They then eventually cleared .. engaged anything that was left. They did expect to get the vehicles off and the dumps established that night, but they didn't. They did it next morning.

And were you detained at the beach, presumably...?

We were there approximately three or four weeks. We were shelled a lot there. A coaster came in and was shelled, one was left on the beach, they couldn't get it off again, it was finished. Eventually the Mulberry doing so well, they didn’tneed the extra tonnage we could bring in but the Americans did. Because the Americans didn't get their Mulberry working. It was swept away, they weren't landing the tonnage they needed, particularly in ammunition and so we went up to Lion sur Mer first and helped there, for a while and we went up to the Americans and helped the Americans, in early August. We helped to get the beach cleared for unloading. This was at Omaha. There were still a lot of underwater obstacles and the Americans bulldozed round it and made more room. We could operate as well as their DUKWs and we increased their tonnage by about a thousand tons a day. Which made quite a difference for them. One historian said the Americans didn't need a Mulberry because they managed to get it off the beaches, but they didn't mention us!

Would it not be in the Regimental history?

It would, yes. Anyway I wrote to him and he thanked me: he didn't realise. Of course, once it's in black and white, there's nothing you can do about it. It's something that probably isn't known.

So after you finished your tasks in and around the Normandy beaches, what was your next task that was set you?

Well, after that Falaise happened and we pulled out of the American sector. In fact they didn't need us any more by then. They were able to release us. By the way, we were awarded the Silver (?) Star for our work on the American beaches. After that we were pulled out and we took our vehicles up, following the advance, and got up to Holland actually, and handed the DUKWs in to the vehicle depot and took over three tonners, three ton trucks. So we then became a normal transport company, and operated in Meuze in North Belgium, and we were taking supplies up from there to the front line.

There was no call for DUKWs after the Polders were flooded.

Well, we did have to take DUKWs over again and to Wal.cheren. There were problems there. So we went out with DUKWs and did some carrying of people who were isolated and so forth. We then moved up to Ghent and during that period, Christmas 1944, the Americans had the assault by the Germans and were being beaten back and we carried 6 Airborne into the lines to support the Americans to halt the German advance which did happen actually.

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