I was due to come ashore with my unit, 101 Beach
Signals, at 10-30 a.m. but such was the congestion on the beach - the tide had risen to narrow the beach, from the water's edge to the beach exit, to about 30 metres - so that the 3-ton Bedford I was sitting in had its front wheels in the sea and its back wheels on the LCT ramp. It remained so for 30 mins. Aged almost 27, but I guess it was the start of my hair turning white! Eventually the exit was clear of casualties and we moved off to our pre-arranged site in Hermanville. I set up my post to operate high-grade encipherment of shore-to-command-ship messages but circumstances found little use for my services and I soon found myself with little to do. After three days I was able to swan around the bridgehead area more or less freely until the breakout in August when my Unit was assigned to other duties. My regret at the time was not having a camera - but I'd survived!
An interesting tailpiece.....My first duty after
the fighting had moved on was to conduct a party
of German POWs salvaging signals equipment - in
the main, telephone cable. Years later I bought
a reel of this at a war surplus store for use in
tying up the runner bean poles on my allotment. I often wondered if, in fairness, the reel I was using should have been mine for free!
Recommended story
Story with photo