Down Memory Lane: 11 June 2009

Jun 12 2009 by Mae McEwan, Irvine Herald

IT’S D-Day, June 6, 2009 as I write this today and I can hardly credit it is 65 years on since, as a young lassie, I heard the news on our wireless that the invasion of France had now begun.

It can be brought back to my mind even easier as I have here in front of me the letter my husband, Hugh, received, along with thousands of other Army, Navy and Air Force personnel from Dwight D Eisenhower, who led the invasion and was later to become President of the United States of America.

It begins: “Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, towards which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.”

And ends: “Good luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

Considering this letter of Hugh’s is also 65 years old, it is in great condition because he appreciated receiving it, then and now, and has kept it so.

D-Day, June 6, 1944 – what it meant to me as a 16-year-old was that this would mean my father would hopefully return home as soon as the invasion was successfully completed and the war was over. As for my husband-to-be, well as I’ve said previously here, I didn’t even know he existed.

But before I write any more, I have to say I was furious to hear earlier this week that our Queen did not receive an invitation to attend the Commemoration Services. Queen Elizabeth is the only Head of State now who actually served in the Second World War.

Mind you, at my age and the Queen is older, I personally think it better that Prince Charles represents Great Britain although I feel sure the Queen would be up to it. Probably so would Prince Philip. Every time I see the Queen showing much more stamina than I have, I console myself by thinking, “Oh well, she wouldn’t have scrubbed any floors or stairs in her day, nor pipe-clayed steps and polished furniture. Nae wonder she’s fitter than I am.” But she and Philip do well I have to say.

I can’t believe it’s 25 years since Hugh and I attended the 40th anniversary of D-Day in 1984. It is an unforgettable experience to be standing at a war-time cemetery and seeing the ages of all these young heroes who lost their lives, all of them somebody’s son, husband or brother. I know I felt very humble to be there and very moved indeed.

It’s usually me who suggests holiday destinations but on this occasion it was Hugh who was keen to go to Normandy. I was so pleased he suggested something, that I was on the phone to the travel agents straight away.

“No can do.” I was told about six weeks or more before we would have to leave for this holiday. When I asked why not I was told Normandy was fully booked up because the Queen and President Reagan were going there. “Well,” I said: “I don’t think either of them were on the beaches during the invasion while my husband was, so why not try again.”

To cut a long story short, we got booked up at a holiday village near Bayeux, it was first class, beautiful wooden chalets and we found that President Reagan’s bodyguards had also been booked in there. A troop of fine young men, all good-looking and boy, did they pull the French Mademoiselles, nae bother to them.

Even the journey from Calais to Branville, our holiday village, was unforgettable as we kept stopping at points all the way as war exhibitions were being held everywhere, even in fields – and this was fully a week before D-Day 40 years on.

We saw it all. Pegasus Bridge was a must at Benouville and again I have to say how privileged I felt to be standing in the area where brave Major John Howard, D Company, 2nd Battalion The Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, parachuted down from gliders.

The men took off from Tarrant Rushton at 10.56pm on June 5 and landed near the eastern end of Pegasus just after midnight. One man was killed during the landing but within minutes Howard’s team had secured the bridge.

Remember the film D-Day, June 6 and Richard Todd playing the role of Major Howard? And the piper playing the bagpipes as they crossed the bridge?

We went into the cafe there and were amazed at the walls lined with photographs and letters sent from Allied soldiers to this place.

Everywhere we went was nostalgic for Hugh. A day at Saint-Mere-Eglise was one of the highlights. Actors portraying American soldiers had been hired to be there and you can imagine how very realistic it was. Hugh kept on vividly remembering all the time about what it had been like for him. He was with the 11th Air Formation Signals attached to 83 Group RAF main group with Typhoon Fighters. He had been given extensive training for months along the south coast of England prior to June 6, practising landing on beaches etc. Then finally assembled in camp at Eastham in London, being issued with new equipment and our British version of French francs. So, obviously they knew their destination but obviously everything was top secret.

His group left the camp about May 29/30 and proceeded to George V docks where they boarded a ship. No luxury vessel as it had carried coal. Their equipment and vehicles were lowered into the hold which was then covered up and this was the soldiers living quarters until they landed at Arromanches in Normandy on June, D-Day plus one.

But they had actually sailed from George V dock on May 31 and then took up position in the Thames estuary. Finally they sailed and were mid-channel when the first landings were announced and approached the beach at Arromanches on D-Day plus one. This was Gold Beach.

Bombing and shelling continuously kept the troops from landing until they were able to get on a Rhino Ferry and landed on D-Day plus two. Early that morning they moved inland to Bazenville where they dug in, only to be attacked by German bombers.

I’ll carry on now quoting from one of Hugh’s many books about this time in his life, it’s by Richard Holmes and was written in association with the Imperial War Museum. The heading is “Gold Beach” and reads: “Gold, the Westernmost of the British/Canadian beaches, was to be assaulted by Major General DHH Graham’s 50th Division of XXXCorps, which was to advance to take Bayeux, and hook right to capture Arromanches (where the Mulberry Harbour was to be built and some time ago I wrote about this, saying I had found out a part of this was actually built at Irvine shipyard under the Official Secrets Act).

“Then they were to link up with the Americans, 50th Division which had begun the war as a territorial formation recruited from the north-east and had fought in France in 1940 and subsequently in the Western Desert.

“50th Division was to land with two brigades forward, 231st on the right and 69th on the left, with 56th Brigade following up on the right and 151st on the left. The Division had 8th Armoured Brigade under command and this provided one regiment of DD tanks with each assaulting brigade, the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry on the right and the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards on the left.

Once the beach was secure, 47th Royal Marine Commando would land and make for Port-en-Bessin on the inter-Allied Boundary. In contrast to American policy, specialist armoured vehicles of the Westminster Dragoons and 6th Assault Regiment Royal Engineers, were to land just ahead of the infantry to deal with beach obstacles, mines and the sea wall.

“On Gold Beach alone there were almost 2,500 obstacles of one sort or another, embodying almost 900 tons of steel, concrete or wood.

“Strong defences at Le Hamel briefly held up 231st Brigade –1st Hampshire lost its commanding officer and second-in-command – but by 8.30 the whole brigade was ashore and making progress. On the left, 69th brigade also ran into resistance just behind the beach, but the garrisons of a battery on Mont Fleury and the village of Ver-sur-Mer had been covered by naval and air bombardment that they offered little opposition.

“With the assaulting brigades ashore, naval beachmasters began to organise the beaches so that follow-up could land safely and smoothly, 151st Brigade arrived about 11.00 with 69th Brigade not far behind. By the end of the day, almost 25,000 men had gone ashore.

“Progress inland was encouraging. The commandos dug in overlooking Port-en-Bessin, and Arromanches was cleared by nightfall. During the advances of the 69th Brigade, Company Sergeant Major Stan Hollis of the Green Howards earned the Victoria Cross, the only one awarded as a result of D-Day, for valour that began on Mont Fleury and ended in the village of Crepon. By nightfall the 151st Brigade had reached the Bayeux-Caen road. Bayeux itself was hopelessly exposed and fell the following day.”

The actual amount of men landed on that day was 24,970. Sadly, around 400 were dead, wounded or missing. That number to me is really miraculous considering what they faced. So easily could many more be included in that amount.

It’s Sunday now and I stopped writing yesterday to watch the Commemoration Services on the TV and have to say I wasn’t impressed with the heid anes who held forth at Omaha Beach. Prince Charles did not get his rightful place as the man whose parents played their parts in the Second World War as well as him being heir to the British throne. I was also sorry the Prince did not make an appearance at Gold Beach where so many of our old servicemen were gathered at Arromanches.

Did any of you folk see Andrew Neil in the Andrew Marr show this morning? He shared my views 100 per cent about the insult to us that our Head of State wasn’t invited.

He went on to say that an entire generation were growing up believing it was an American Invasion of Normandy that led to the war being won, pointing out it was planned here in Britain, carried out from here in Royal Navy and other British ships and it was our Royal Air Force who provided the essential cover.

Pity we didn’t have a Steven Spielberg.