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Preparing for D-Day

June 6, 1944: The Normandy Landings

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All Photos on the Invasion of Normandy

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Photo Galleries: Invasion of Normandy in 1944 appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPDpOYKOSbg

John Jenkins, a British World War II veteran who served with the Pioneer Corps and helped to invade Gold Beach shortly after D-Day, discusses his emotions right before landing. Jenkins talks about being just close enough to home on the shores of Normandy that he figured out a way to sneak back and visit his newborn baby girl during the campaign.

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British Veteran Finds His Way Home appeared first on Witnify.

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Veteran of the British Royal Navy, Harry Card, tells his personal story about the day his ship, the late HMS Swift, was attacked on June 24, 1944 whilst in support of the Normandy Invasion off Sword Beach. Card recalls what it was like as the vessel began to sink after being affected by something known as an oyster mine, which were mines that were dropped in the water and would explode when a ship passed by them.

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Oyster Mines During the Normandy Invasion appeared first on Witnify.

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Marine James “Sandy” Powell was a member of the 30 Assault Unit (AU), an elite British Royal commando unit that helped to gather intelligence and carry out interrogations. The group was commanded by Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond spy novel series. Powell explains what his D-Day landing near Utah Beach as well as his involvement in the Battle of Cherbourg during the Normandy Invasion, an integral battle that helped secure the large and accessible fortified port which would allow the Allies to provide reinforcements after D-Day.

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Ian Fleming’s 30 Assault Unit Member on the Battle of Cherbourg appeared first on Witnify.

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Fred Millward, a paratrooper of the British 9th Parachute Battalion, part of the 6th Airborne Division, was one of the only paratroopers to survive D-Day and participate in the Allied attack on the Nazis’ Merville Gun Battery, a German coastal fortification on the Atlantic Wall in Normandy. Millward describes how he luckily survived the turbulent British landings on Sword Beach.

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Barely Surviving the Jump into Sword Beach appeared first on Witnify.

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Decorated veteran Gordon Smith, part of the 1051 Port Company Royal Engineers, recalls arriving at Juno Beach a day after the Normandy Landings. Smith recalls collapsing while trying to keep himself steady in a packed and tottering barge as his unit awaited orders to get to the beachhead. Strangers placed him in a pile of coil after his collapse in the back of the boat where he fell asleep, waking up later to the smell of cordite then running towards the beach despite his seasickness. Smith shares his memory of his seasickness getting the better of him with a misplaced sense of overwhelming guilt.

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Guilt Over Seasickness at Juno Beach appeared first on Witnify.

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“Part of your thoughts is self-preservation. And unfortunately self-preservation is always at the cost of somebody else.”

British veterans Peter and Len go on a road trip to visit Sword Beach, the area where they had landed on D-Day. They describe what their orders were as they arrived on the beachhead and what the odds were that they would live through that day: “We were told, ‘It’s as expected of 50 percent casualties.’” The veterans visit the cemetery of their fellow fallen soldiers and grieve over how young some of them were when they died.

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‘Self-Preservation Is Always at the Cost of Somebody Else’ appeared first on Witnify.

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Ian Hammerton, British commander of a flail tank during WWII, recalls landing on Juno Beach during D-Day. Hammerton describes seeing many dead and wounded soldiers already on the beach as he arrived. He also remembers the hectic environment that surrounded him during the Normandy landing.

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‘You Didn’t Have Time to be Frightened’ appeared first on Witnify.

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Bill Millin, the personal piper to Lord Lovat, a prominent British Commando in World War II, was ordered by Lovat to play the bagpipes as his fellow soldiers died around him on Sword Beach and all the way to the seize of Pegasus Bridge during the Normandy Landings. Millin asked some captured German snipers why they never targeted him and he was told that they all assumed he was a “dummkopf,” a dolt or a stupid person. His courageous yet risky actions are portrayed in the 1962 film, “The Longest Day,” starring John Wayne.

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Why Germans Didn’t Shoot This D-Day Bagpiper appeared first on Witnify.

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Ray Wilton vividly describes being just 19 years old when he participated in the Normandy Landings at Gold Beach: “All these young men floating in the water. The water was red with blood. Some of them struggling with these enormous packs on their back and there was nothing we could do to help them…” He describes all the friends he lost on that first day.

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Hurrying to Shore at Gold Beach appeared first on Witnify.