大象传媒

August 6th, 1944, in the early morning, those of us camping in a field inside RAFUxbridge and members of 85 Group HQ Signals Unit had struck down our tents and other equipment and had packed them into our 20 or so vehicles . We received the blessing of the Padr茅 and then drove slowly into the town. By late afternoon we had arrived at RAF Old Sarum, a tented camp, where we had showers, etc., and were entertained to a Gang Show in the camp's marquee theatre. We departed again early in the morning accompanied by some mobile
airfield beacons on lorries. As we left camp lorries drove alongside and off-loaded some boxes of "Compo" rations on to our vehicles. In the afternoon we arrived at a staging camp not far short of Gosport, and after an evening's concert by a military band we turned in for the night in tents.

We were roused at 05.00 and were away in the first light of dawn, eventually arriving in a narrow street at Gosport, although at the time, lacking any signposts, we were unaware of where we were; only the convoy leader would have known our destination. There were plenty of civilians around, all going about their business, but we had to wait for embankation.

Our turn came at last, and we drove up the ramp of LST295 (landing ship-tanks),up the steep ramp and through the wide open bow doors, where we turned around and entered an electric lift which hoisted us up to the upper deck, where we parked with other vehicles. Although our ship flew the stars and stripes it was manned by a British crew. Our transmitter vans were loaded on to a LCT (tank landing craft), which was much smaller.

I stood on the foredeck watching as Sherman, Churchill and Cromwell tanks, the
latter accompanied by much backfiring were
driven aboard on to the lower deck, where they were secured just as our vehicles had been. Bow doors closed and secured, we went astern under orders given by a British destroyer which raced across our stern. We then pulled away into the solent, where we lay all day. Some of the lads sunbathed on top of the vehicles, whilst I explored down below, finding washbasins and mirrors with hot and cold water available. The tank crews occupied the bunks below. On deck and Allied Expeditionary Forces radio programme was relayed to us over the loud hailers and hot food supplied from the galley. I watched an Admiralty Signalling Station signalling to the ships from the Isle of Wight by lamp in the evening as we settled down to get some sleep in the cab of our lorry, the radio having been turned off.

After nightfall we weighed amchor and proceeded to sea, our RAF contingent having been divided into watches charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the tanks remainder safely secured during the crossing. Since it was a flat calm, there seemed little likelihood of any difficuly on that account. I was surprised that the crew seemed supremely confident of a peaceful crossing and noted that the guns, which had Sperry Gyroscopic sights, remained unmanned and hooded. In the morning we sighted the French coast and sailed along it for some distance in a westerly direction within sight of what I believe was a naval monitor which had probably been bombarding the beaches on D-Day.

We soon came alongside a concrete caisson which I later identified as part of Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches.

Unloading from the upper deck first, we drove down an inclined ramp and on to the long, narrow floating pier to French soil - my first of many subsequent visits to the Continent. A short run took us to a field where I was tasked (as the first ashore) with marshalling our convoy.

We had been intended to land on Juno Beach, and everything had been waterproofed for this reason, but we were much delayed,
possibly due to the loss of LSTs in the American Slapton Sands affair, so we now had a more comfortable and dry landing on Gold Beach instead.

We soon set off in a cloud of dust, much like a scene in the desert war, to a farm at St. Croix Grand Tonne, where we to
operate for the next 45 days opposite B6 airfield at Coulombs, which held rocket-firing Typhoon aircraft, and were to witness the daily take-offs to attach the German armour in the Falaise Gap, where they had been trapped.

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