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D day stories 08:29 - Jun 5 with 5294 viewsbluelagos

Come on Twtd, lets hear about your relatives and their experiences.

My Grandad got to France D Day + 7, so had it easy in comparison to many brave soldiers.

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D day stories on 08:44 - Jun 5 with 3641 viewsFtnfwest

Mine was busy in Italy, in the RAF having just supported the Cassino campaign and the break out after that (North Africa and Sicily before that). That's as much as we know as he never wanted to talk about it.
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D day stories on 08:56 - Jun 5 with 3626 viewsuefacup81

I found out recently that a great uncle of mine died in the Far East in 1944:

http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Hell_Ships/Maros_Maru/html/def_database_26.htm

https://www.cofepow.org.uk/armed-forces-stories-list/the-maros-maru

Seemingly he died as a result of the conditions aboard a Japanese POW ship whilst being transported.

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D day stories on 09:03 - Jun 5 with 3619 viewsBanksterDebtSlave

Lost a relative in a sea plane(pilot) on my Dad's side.....by the way, anybody just watched Harold (veteran) on the BBC sticking it to (current) politicians and generals? Good man.
[Post edited 5 Jun 2019 9:12]

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D day stories on 09:10 - Jun 5 with 3599 viewsIpswichKnight

My Grandfather on my Dad's side tore his ACL training for D-Day and instead when fit again was given guard duty for De Gualle

One of my Mums great uncles was the only survivor of his company to come out of a Japanese PoW camp he could never forgive himself for surviving it when all his friends died.
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D day stories on 09:56 - Jun 5 with 3552 viewsITFC_Forever

My Grandad was a signalman on the railways in Cornwall and so was exempt from call-up as the railways were key to the country to transport goods / servicemen / ammo etc around the country.

That didn't stop a stray German war-plane popping a round at him when he was walking back along the tracks after changing a light in one of the signals - he dived under some trucks that were fortunately in the siding he was walking next to and heard the bullets pinging off the truck.
And this was in a rural valley in the Cornish countryside... he died 18 months before I was born, so I never met him, but I would imagine that was quite scary enough, never mind what those who fought on the front-line went through.

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D day stories on 10:04 - Jun 5 with 3542 viewsSaleAway

No personal stories as such, but my grandparents lived right by Slapton Sands, where Operation Tiger was held as a d-day rehearsal, and went so wrong that the American top brass ordered a complete blackout on the news... approximately 1000 servicemen died, due to german boats attacking the back of the convoy ( a protection Royal Navy frigate had mistakenly been ordered back to base for repairs), lifejackets not being properly fitted, and hypothermia from the freezing water.

It was only in the late 20th century that people finally cleared up what happened - and the tank on the beach there, that was raised by a local man, now stands as a memorial to all that lost their lives there.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-27185893

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D day stories on 10:43 - Jun 5 with 3497 viewsGuthrum

D day stories on 09:56 - Jun 5 by ITFC_Forever

My Grandad was a signalman on the railways in Cornwall and so was exempt from call-up as the railways were key to the country to transport goods / servicemen / ammo etc around the country.

That didn't stop a stray German war-plane popping a round at him when he was walking back along the tracks after changing a light in one of the signals - he dived under some trucks that were fortunately in the siding he was walking next to and heard the bullets pinging off the truck.
And this was in a rural valley in the Cornish countryside... he died 18 months before I was born, so I never met him, but I would imagine that was quite scary enough, never mind what those who fought on the front-line went through.


The younger of my grandfathers was in a reserved occupation, too (pharmacist). But like everybody not called up was involved in ARP/firewatching. For decades it was said no bombs ever fell on Norwich Cathedral, altho he always maintained they had, but were extinguished before the flames caught. A couple of years before he died, records came to light proving he was, in fact, correct.

My other grandfather (who had served in the First World War and was too old for call-up in 1939) told a story that he was cycling along the docks in Ipswich after a night-time air raid when his bicycle started slowing down for no reason, getting harder and harder to pedal. One of the warehouses had been hit and the dockside was covered in a sea of molasses.

People forget how heavily bombed Ipswich and Norwich were during the War, including by V2 rockets.

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D day stories on 11:20 - Jun 5 with 3442 viewsMedwayTractor

My dad was a tank commander in 26 Assault Sqdn, RE, which was equipped with Churchill AVREs. On D-Day, he landed on Mike Sector of Juno Beach at about D + 30 minutes supporting the attack by Canadian infantry. The principal coastal objective was the capture of the town of Courselles-sur-Mer. If you go there today, you will find a Churchill AVRE on display just off the beach and to the west of the town. This was one of the 26th's tanks, the story of which is well known and is described in many records of D-Day. A few days after D-Day, 26 were part of the assaulting force which captured a German radar base at Douvres-les-Délivrande, about 5 miles SE of Courselles, now the site of a small museum.

After the Normandy campaign, I don't know what he did, but like so many others, he never talked about the fighting. I have a photograph of him and his fellow officers, taken on Christmas Day 1944, near the Dutch town of Bergen-op-Zoom, so I know that he took part in the liberation of the Low Countries.

I'm off to the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham on Friday, to have a look round their D-Day exhibition and to attend a couple of the special D-Day events.

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D day stories on 11:50 - Jun 5 with 3426 viewsOldsmoker

My grandad got a shrapnell wound in his right elbow during the Battle of the Somme in WW1.
He could hardly move his right arm after that. It was fixed at an angle so he would hold his belt buckle when he walked. At meal time he would move his shoulder to position the fork and used the knife in his left-hand. He could still write with his right hand.
My other grandad died during WW2 at home.
My other grandad was once covered in goose fat. He went downhill really fast after that.
My other grandad..........

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D day stories on 12:37 - Jun 5 with 3391 viewsChurchman

My father in law was on a Fairmile B Navigation boat leading landing craft Ito Gold Beach. His ‘mother ship’ (they were at sea something like 46 days out of 50 and had to be resupplied) was HMS Belfast. After DDay he commanded an ML down to the Far East where he fought the Japanese. He’d never talk about any of it and refused an invite by the Normandy veterans association to attend the 50th. We have the white ensign off his boat, blackened, shot in half and still smelling of cordite and funnel smoke. A mild, generous, kind man.
My dads cousin was killed in a death trap called a Hampden in bomber command in 1941. His photo used to sit on my grandparents piano. It was a subject not talked about.
My grandfather was a Royal Engineer in WW1 and was present on 1st July 1916 in the worst possible place. He survived and was wounded in Sept 17 and invalided out with shell shock. He died in the early 1950s. His brother served as a mechanic in the newly formed RAF in 1918.
Brave men all. How lucky are the post war generation that have avoided world wars and we should never forget those that served and have done right up to the present day.
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D day stories on 13:22 - Jun 5 with 3360 viewsLakenheath_Blue

My Grandfather was exempt from service and worked as a carpenter for the London Heavy Rescue Service. Supposedly, he was went down to Portsmouth before D-Day and help build the Landing Craft. Haven't been able to confirm this yet but do have his Identity card which indicates that he moved down their at that time.

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D day stories on 13:34 - Jun 5 with 3344 viewsBlacknGoldnBlue

No. 29211, Sergeant, Claud BROOKS D.C.M.
Aged 26


King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 1st/4th Battalion
formerly 16253, Suffolk Regiment and 26586 Hampshire Regiment
Died of his Wounds on Monday 12th August 1918

Born Lakenheath, registered Mildenhall Q4-1892 [4A:741].

Citation for his Distinguished Conduct Medal: 3/10/18 29211 (late 26586) Sjt. C. Brooks (Ludlow)
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. During a counter-attack, when his platoon officer had become a casualty, this NCO took command of the platoon, leading them with conspicuous gallantry and skill, he re-captured and re-established the portion of the line that was his objective. He then went out in broad daylight with a fighting patrol and drove the enemy out of a strong point and captured a machine gun. Later he brought in two wounded men under heavy machine gun and rifle fire.

The action that his DCM was awarded for took place at Montagne-de-Bligny on 6th June 1918. Bligny Hill is in the Champagne region of France and was where the Germans had switched their attentions to the much weaker French sector— an area where British troops had not previously been involved.
4th K.S.L.I. made a fighting retreat from Chambrecy, being rapidly reduced to only 350 men by June 5th, when it was halted near the Montaigne de Bligny, a hill dominating the area. The 4th K.S.L.I.were in support initially, with the N. Staffordshires and Cheshires holding the hill. At around 6.00 a.m. on the 6th June, the German attack began and by 8.00, the North Staffs and Cheshires were taking heavy casualties on Bligny Hill. By 9.30 a.m., the Germans had taken the hill and the Cheshires and North Staffs were fighting their way down its slopes towards the 4th KSLI, who were ordered to counter attack at 12.45 p.m., after a brief artillery barrage; its aim was to retake the crest and drive off the German defenders.
The barrage never happened, but the attack went ahead anyway. From their trench line near Chaumuzy, the battalion had to cross about a mile of open fields, full of standing corn, in clear view of the Germans on Bligny Hill. Of the fewer than 200 men of 4 K.S.L.I. who attacked across the open fields, 80 were casualties by the time the foot of the hill was reached. Here they met the remnants of the N Staffs and Cheshires and together, despite intense enemy fire they succeeded in driving the Germans back down the hill. All this left only 150 men to hold a 1 ½ mile front. They also had to contend with an artillery barrage, from our own guns, the barrage promised for earlier in the day !.
Down to 100 effective men, they were surprised to be ordered to retire, but their commander replied that they could not move. Fortunately they were relieved around midnight by the Northumberland Fusiliers.

Not only was Sgt Brooks decorated for his efforts that day, but the 4th Battlion were awarded the Croix de Guerre, the citation reading :
The citation stated : "On the 6th June 1918, when the right flank of a British Brigade was being seriously threatened by the progress of a heavy enemy attack, the 1-4th Battalion of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, which had been held in reserve, was called upon to counter-attack an important position from which their comrades had just been ejected. With magnificent dash, this Battalion rushed the hill on which the enemy had established themselves, inflicting heavy losses on them and in the course of hand-to-hand fighting captured an officer and 28 other ranks.
Thanks to this gallant and spirited recapture of the key to the whole defensive position, the line was completely restored. The dash, energy and intrepidity with which, on this memorable occasion, the 1-4th KSLI carried all before it, was largely responsible for the retrieval of a situation which had temporarily become critical.”

Since Claud died of his wounds, in the absence of his Army records, it is impossible to work out exaxctly how or where he was injured. The records do not show him being wounded at the time of his DCM exploits.

The Bury Free Press of 21st September 1918 reported:-
LAKENHEATH SERGEANT DIES IN FRANCE
The sad news was recently printed by this journal that another Lakenheath man has made the great sacrifice. Sergeant Claude Brooks, of the Shropshire Light iInfantry, having died at a field ambulance station in France on August 12th as the result of wounds received during the recent severe fighting. The deceased soldier , who was a native of Lakenheath was the fourth son of Mr.and Mrs.Brooks of Littleport; he was well known and warmly respected for hislovable disposition and upright character, and the whole hearted sympathy of the residents of Lakenheath goes out to the bereaved parents in their great loss

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D day stories on 13:37 - Jun 5 with 3338 viewsGlebeTractor

D day stories on 09:03 - Jun 5 by BanksterDebtSlave

Lost a relative in a sea plane(pilot) on my Dad's side.....by the way, anybody just watched Harold (veteran) on the BBC sticking it to (current) politicians and generals? Good man.
[Post edited 5 Jun 2019 9:12]


My great Grandad was an engineer on the sea planes. I think it was No. 210 Squadron RAF. He passed away 2 months ago, some of the stories he told were incredible.

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D day stories on 16:17 - Jun 5 with 3269 viewsBlueBadger

My maternal grandmother's first husband was killed in Normandy, 6 weeks after the invasion. He was a former reporter for the Suffolk Free Press.

http://www.foxearth.org.uk/1944-1945SuffolkFreePress.html (search for the word 'stock', it's down the page a bit)

http://www.sudburysuffolk.co.uk/ww2/profile.asp?id=621
[Post edited 5 Jun 2019 16:43]

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D day stories on 22:16 - Jun 5 with 3166 viewsBanksterDebtSlave

D day stories on 13:37 - Jun 5 by GlebeTractor

My great Grandad was an engineer on the sea planes. I think it was No. 210 Squadron RAF. He passed away 2 months ago, some of the stories he told were incredible.


When next home I will check my Dad's paperwork for details of squadron.

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D day stories on 22:18 - Jun 5 with 3176 viewsPhilTWTD

Slightly off the main drag on this but I remember my dad telling me he couldn't get to school in Grays ahead of D-Day because there wasn't a gap in the convoys on their way to the south coast, even though his school was literally across the road from where he lived.

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D day stories on 22:24 - Jun 5 with 3156 viewsMJallday

Both of my grandparents were there, waist deep apparently for hours

Can’t imagine it tbh

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D day stories on 00:02 - Jun 6 with 3085 viewsRyorry

D day stories on 22:24 - Jun 5 by MJallday

Both of my grandparents were there, waist deep apparently for hours

Can’t imagine it tbh


I looked at the commemmorations on the 10pm news, and thought "bloody hell, I wish I had an ounce of the sheer guts that all those people must have had".

The 95-year-old recreating his parachute drop of 75 years ago was just jaw-dropping, what a remarkable achievement!

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D day stories on 02:00 - Jun 6 with 3057 viewsjeera

D day stories on 08:44 - Jun 5 by Ftnfwest

Mine was busy in Italy, in the RAF having just supported the Cassino campaign and the break out after that (North Africa and Sicily before that). That's as much as we know as he never wanted to talk about it.


My grandad was in Italy, and Malta.

He was a cook in the army.

I hope for the sake of the soldiers he served with that he was a damn sight better cook than his wife, my grandmother, bless her.

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D day stories on 08:29 - Jun 6 with 2980 viewsChurchman

D day stories on 10:43 - Jun 5 by Guthrum

The younger of my grandfathers was in a reserved occupation, too (pharmacist). But like everybody not called up was involved in ARP/firewatching. For decades it was said no bombs ever fell on Norwich Cathedral, altho he always maintained they had, but were extinguished before the flames caught. A couple of years before he died, records came to light proving he was, in fact, correct.

My other grandfather (who had served in the First World War and was too old for call-up in 1939) told a story that he was cycling along the docks in Ipswich after a night-time air raid when his bicycle started slowing down for no reason, getting harder and harder to pedal. One of the warehouses had been hit and the dockside was covered in a sea of molasses.

People forget how heavily bombed Ipswich and Norwich were during the War, including by V2 rockets.


I think it is sometimes forgotten what a total effort winning the war was. Everyone was involved, whether in the services, Bevan boys down the mines to reserved occupations or support services such as special constables and aux fire service. It was total war and Britain was the only country to fully and effectively organise itself in this way.

The people who faced unimaginable horror and sometimes paid with their lives deserve all the attention/focus in the world. But the picture isn’t complete without understanding that everyone else was doing what needed to be done whether reserved occupations, making stuff, sorting logistics, drivers, carrying out part time duties etc etc. Without it the war couldn’t be won.
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D day stories on 08:52 - Jun 6 with 2968 viewsa_las_barricadas

Destroyer screen on d day in action against eboats. Also travelled the world and was at Dunkirk. His ship had been sunk in Harwich 1940.
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D day stories on 09:07 - Jun 6 with 2947 viewssoupytwist

All I can contribute is that my great uncle drove one of the landing craft onto Sword beach (I think) and then basically carried on through Europe driving various vehicles for the rest of the war; ending up at Belsen by the time the war ended.

He was a modest and unassuming man, worked the rest of his life at Woods in Colchester. He went back to Normandy a couple of times in later life, always said he never had a problem with Germans but the French wound him up for some reason.

When my wife, son & I went on one of our first family holidays together we went to Normandy and having spoken to him about it, found the graves of a couple of his mates and laid some flowers there on his behalf.
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D day stories on 09:34 - Jun 6 with 2941 viewsKropotkin123

Interesting reading all these stories. A nice post.

Bit of a weird age dynamic in my family. So my Grandad served in WW1. He was on the Howitzers. He rose up a few ranks on the volunteer side. He had 3 wives in his life. I always thought he was a bit of a player. But he lost his first wife shortly after completing his duties, which was sad. But as a descendant of his 3rd wife, I profited from what must have been the saddest part of his life.

Two of my Great Grandads served in WW2. One was on guns shooting down German bombers. Much like an earlier story, information and the containment of information was a big part of winning the war. The German's shot down a boat nearby, it didn't sink instantly, but the men died. The German's didn't know it was sunk, so it was used as fake info. So they were sworn not to say. Decades later it came to light in released documents that were then printed I think in the local press. My Gran suggested about 100 held this secret for decades. Hard to believe. I imagine it would be on social media if it happened today.

The other I'm not sure about his contribution. I never knew him. My Dad has his medal. But that is it.

The story that really got me wasn't even from the front line though. After spending numerous nights in an air raid shelter my great gran refused to spend one more night in it. That night it took a direct hit, which would have almost certainly killed them all. There must be so many stories like that though.

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D day stories on 09:45 - Jun 6 with 2932 viewsbrazil1982

My Grandfather was a Gunner in India (I think so anyway), my Great Uncle was a Japanese POW - apparently he returned with badly injured knees, and had PTSD the remainder of his life.

My G/G Grandfather was in the Crimean war, apparently as a Powder Boy (running with gun powder between cannons on ships)
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D day stories on 09:58 - Jun 6 with 2921 viewsBiGDonnie

D day stories on 22:18 - Jun 5 by PhilTWTD

Slightly off the main drag on this but I remember my dad telling me he couldn't get to school in Grays ahead of D-Day because there wasn't a gap in the convoys on their way to the south coast, even though his school was literally across the road from where he lived.

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Big up Phil, I lived in Grays for years as a yoot. Grove Road.

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