MEMORIES OF D-DAY

Mr. W. T. HIORNS

Whenever I hear the word D-Day spoken it sends shivers up and down my spine. During the war I worked at Furbanks bakery so I was exempt for a while. It was at the end of 1941 when I was just 19 years old that I got my rail fare to go to Leeds for my army medical. My cousin Jack and my girlfriend travelled to Leeds with me so that when I had my medical we could spend the day out in Leeds. I had to go down Wellington Street where the army medical centre was and they passed me out A1.

Christmas came and went and I thought they had forgotten about me but there was to be no such luck for I received rail fare to go to Ossett Barracks shortly afterwards. So on the 22nd January 1942 I caught the train from Knottingley to Wakefield where I had to change for a train to Ossett. I passed out as a cook and after two weeks leave I was sent to Kirkburton with four more lads to await posting.

After a while, six of us were taken to a camp at Conway in North Wales where we started the 2nd L of C Signals. When the camp got full we moved into houses at Raynes Park near London and there the cooks were allotted to different sections. Me and a lad from Leeds, Laurie Godward, were given 7 Construction Section to cook for. This section laid lines to keep communications open from the front line back to Headquarters. There were 72 men in this section, 2 Officers, 4 Sergeants, 4 Corporals, 4 LC/Corporals and 2 Cooks, the rest being linesmen and drivers.

It was only when we went out on large manoeuvres that we went as a full section, most of the time we went out training with just half the section and as one half came back to camp, so the other half would go out. These exercises went on until the 1st April 1944 when 7 Con and 28 Con received new Canadian Chevs. We got six 3 ton lorries, two 15cwt lorries, two jeeps and two Norton motorbikes. All the lorries were four-wheel drives and the six large lorries had winches at the front to pull themselves out of the sand or to assist other vehicles out.

I was told to take all my cooking utensils to the stores so our driver took me in one of the new lorries. When we got there, Laurie was also there and we were both given a new petrol burner each and a set of new utensils, which we stored in our lorry. We were back out on exercises again so that the drivers could learn to handl the new vehicles. We laid lines at Swanage and Herne Bay. At the time we did not know what these lines were for as if there was an invasion, those lines were already in place.

In May, 7 Con and 28 Con all went home on leave for a fortnight. We thought that once we got back to camp that we would be sent to the Far East but all we did was go out on more training exercise. It was the 2nd June when me and Laurie were told to take our 15cwt. lorries down to the stores to draw rations for one week. When we got there the two cooks from 28 Con were also drawing rations and it looked like a big manoeuver we were about to embark on. A 3 ton lorry was to be for the cooking equipment and rations and also me and our Officers batman, Charlie Martin and our driver Robert Wilson and when we got back to 7 Con billet we had to pack all our own kit and all the cooking equipment into the lorry.

The next morning after breakfast my half of 7 Con and one half of 28 Con moved out of Raynes Park. It was the third of June and at the time this morning meant nothing to us and we thought we were just going on a large exercise. We drove down along roads with tanks parked up on either side and later we passed through a town learning only later that it was Ipswich we had passed through. A jeep was waiting for us with two military police and they told us to follow them. A bit later our driver, following the jeep with our officer in it, drove through a gateway with a guard at each side and down into a quarry.

We were shown to large tents and were to be housed six to each tent. We were told to take only our eating utensils and toiletries and to leave all our kit in the lorries. We were told to make our beds up and then go for dinner. There were six palliasse’s in the tent with blankets so we all had one each. After we had made our beds we lined up outside and were taken to a large tent which acted as the messroom, for our dinners. After dinner we were free to do what we wanted so we had a walk round camp. We found the wash-house and toilets and ended up in the NAFFI so we all had a talk trying to find out what we were doing there. After tea four of us had a good look round the quarry. There was barbed wire all around the top of the quarry so no-one got in or out unless they passed the guards at the gate and they were letting no-one past. It was like a prison. We made our way back to the NAFFI and had a pint of beer. We only had one as reveille was at six o’clock.

After breakfast the next morning we were given a small cardboard box each. We were told those were 24 hour rations and we did not have to use them until we were told. Me and Charlie Martin stored a palliasse and blanket each on our lorry. Charlie said it was a long exercise and we were sleeping rough so they would come in useful later on.

We boarded our lorries and out of the quarry we drove, 28 Con followed us out. We went back down the lanes with the tanks all parked bumper to bumper and then we passed through a town which was just wakening up. We later learned it was Ipswich and down to a wide river where boats were moored up side by side. An M.P directed 7 Con to a large flat bottomed boat, t was an L.C.T landing craft tank. There were two lorries already on there and when we backed our lorries and trailer on we filled the boat. On the next L.C.T to us the R.A. were loading 25 pounder guns and lorries and when it was full both boats moved out side by side into the middle of the river. As we slowly moved off down stream other boats followed in convoy. The other half section of 28 Con were some way behind us as we moved out of the river and followed the coastline. We wondered where we were going to land as we still thought it was an exercise.

Suddenly the first boats in line turned seawards and when our boat turned to sea it shuddered as the two 1,000 hp engines opened up. We looked back and could see nothing but boats – we were on our way to France.

It was the 6th June 1944. It was about noon when the R.E Sergeant Major came and asked me if I would help his cook to heat some tins of stew, one can for every man on board and a mug of tea each. I got my burner out of the lorry and three containers, one to heat the tins, one for them to wash their utensils and the other to make tea. When the tea was heated me and the other cook started to open them but we did not open many because half the soldiers were being sick over the side of the boat. Being a flat-bottomed boat, once we got into the middle of the channel it was very rough and nearly everyone on board was feeling seasick. If the first lot of soldiers had gone over in flat-bottomed boats I do not think they would have felt like fighting. When everyone had been served I asked the cook if he wanted some of the tins of stew that were left. He said no and that as I had used my own equipment I could have them so I loaded them onto my lorry with my burner. They came in very handy later on.

As we neared the coast of France the noise was deafening as the destroyers were firing their big guns and the shells were landing miles inland. Every one of us was scared as we did not know what was ahead of us. This was Arromanches Beach Head and we were landing at a little village called Ver Sur Mer.

It was about 3pm in the afternoon when our boats touched the beach and the boat at the side of us with the R.A on board dropped its drawbridge and an R.A. lorry started off with its gun behind. It went straight down beneath the sea, only the hatch at the top of the lorry was visible, through which the crew managed to clamber out. This scared the life out of us as our boat dropped its drawbridge and we were told to move off. The captain of our boat told us we were only in a foot of water and the other boat must have hit a shell hole. Our officer went off first in the jeep and when we saw the water only came up to the wheel hubs we were reassured and followed him off the boat.

The lorry I was in came off last and as we came onto the beach an M.P. pointed to a wire sticking out of the sand. He told our driver not to hit them as they were mines. We moved slowly off the beach following a track between two rows of ribbons. We were about half way across the beach when we heard a large explosion. About 400 yards to the left of us an amphibious vehicle (Duck, as they were called) had hit a mine and was blown to pieces as well as everyone onboard. Eventually we reached the relative safety of the road and as we turned onto it I looked back and for as far as you could see there were bodies sewn up in sacks and laid along the far side of the road. It was a sight I will never forget.

We heard later that it was a Yorkshire Regiment that had gone in on the first wave and suffered very heavy casualties and a Pioneer Regiment had the terrible task of sewing the casualties up in sacks. They were taking them down and loading them onto the same boats that we had come over in to be returned to England. For those poor souls the war was over.

An M.P. met us on the road and took us to a field and told us to park down one side of it out of sight. He then took our Officer to Headquarters to receive his orders. When Lt. Summersville came back they all moved out leaving me, his batman, and our driver with the HQ. lorry and we were told not to move out of the field but to set up camp. We had been working for about half an hour when we heard a big whooshing noise and the three of us dived into the hedge behind the lorry for cover. Our hearts were pounding as a large oblong object landed in the far corner of the field. We held our hands over our ears waiting for a big explosion when two M.P.s came racing into the field in a jeep and told us it was only an empty fuel tank which a fighter plane had ejected. Loading it onto their jeep they took it away and we felt safe again.

The 24hr survival pack we had been given when we left England consisted of biscuits similar to Cream Crackers, two pats of butter, a small portion of jam, a small tin of sardines, a small burner and two cubes slightly larger than an oxo cube. One was concentrated beef and the other was oatmeal. You had to put water into your mess tin, bring it to the boil on the burner and then crumble the oatmeal cube into it. This swelled up and made porridge. The other cube made minced beef. There was also a bar of chocolate, some cigarettes and some matches. We did not use our packs as I heated three tins of steak stew for us and made a cup of tea.

It was late in the evening when Lt Summersville (Slim as we called him) came back and told me they would be back in about one hour and could I make a meal and a cup of tea for them. I told him I would and he left. I got my burner and three stands set up and filled three containers with water. In one I put enough tins of McConnachie Stew for every one and in another I made tea. The third was for the lads to wash their mess tins in. I was all ready and cut two loaves up which we had brought with us. Lt. Slim told me later to save the bread for when they went out on the job as it would be better than biscuits. After the lads had all eaten I had to clean up and get ready for the next day. It was late when I got my head down, this was the worst part of the job, I was last into bed and first one to rise.

Mr. W.T. Hiorns
May 2004