0:00:02 > 0:00:04BIRDSONG
0:00:28 > 0:00:33They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old:
0:00:33 > 0:00:38Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
0:00:41 > 0:00:43We will remember them.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45- MEN IN UNISON:- We will remember them.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52THUNDER RUMBLES
0:00:52 > 0:00:55THUNDERCLAPS
0:01:02 > 0:01:04Up this way, up this way!
0:01:04 > 0:01:07- You go!- Target!- Let's go!
0:01:07 > 0:01:09D-Day itself was... Oh, it was rough.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14But in its own way, it was partly a dream to me.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:01:16 > 0:01:18The next day wasn't a dream.
0:01:18 > 0:01:19RAPID GUNFIRE
0:01:22 > 0:01:25We were all young, and to us, it was an experience.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27I said to myself on the first day,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29"If this is going to be war, this is great."
0:01:30 > 0:01:35But unfortunately, it wasn't. It changed that night.
0:01:43 > 0:01:44Get down!
0:01:51 > 0:01:52We'd never been in battle.
0:01:52 > 0:01:58So we imagined ourselves as John Waynes or somebody like that -
0:01:58 > 0:02:00we're going to storm the place and take it all ourselves.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06But when it comes to the real thing, your whole attitudes change.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10All of a sudden, you found yourselves men overnight.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Terrible. Scared, not knowing what was going to happen.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25You never know from one minute to the next
0:02:25 > 0:02:27whether you're going to live or die.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33I could hear the screams of some men who were hit.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35To this very day, I can hear them.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44Many of those men that went in on those actions
0:02:44 > 0:02:46that I took part in,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49as far as I'm concerned, they were all heroes.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51All heroes.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09THUNDER RUMBLES
0:03:13 > 0:03:17In preparation for the Allied invasion of France,
0:03:17 > 0:03:18by 1944,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22the German forces had built a formidable line of defence
0:03:22 > 0:03:24along the coast of northern France.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Constructed by Field Marshal Rommel,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31it was Adolf Hitler's Atlantic Wall.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Stationed in the South of England,
0:03:38 > 0:03:43men from the Royal Ulster Rifles prepared to take on Hitler's forces
0:03:43 > 0:03:48and to take part in the biggest military invasion in history.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53They were all ordinary fellas.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57There's none of them put-ons or upstarts or anything like that.
0:03:57 > 0:03:58MARCHING FEET
0:03:58 > 0:04:01All run-of-the-mill fellas, some of them were farmers,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03some of them were unemployed like myself.
0:04:05 > 0:04:06There was fellas from...
0:04:06 > 0:04:08down south,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10there was fellas from Derry,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12there was fellas from Belfast.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16There was fellas from all over Northern Ireland, more or less.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Isolated from their family and friends,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24the Royal Ulster Rifles were moved to top-secret transit camps
0:04:24 > 0:04:27to make final preparations for D-Day.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32The transit camp was like everywhere else - an army camp.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34You weren't allowed out,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37we were confined mostly to our own tents.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39The canteen was open and that was that.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43As D-Day approached,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47an unexpected visitor arrived to boost the men's morale.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52They said, somebody coming to... They never said who it was.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Then we got there and they says,
0:04:54 > 0:04:56"Right, now all the tall people,
0:04:56 > 0:04:57"get to the back,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59"and short ones get to the front."
0:04:59 > 0:05:00And then there was a platform.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02And then this jeep drove up.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05And then, Field Marshal Montgomery come on top.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14He was our hero. He inspired us,
0:05:14 > 0:05:15he gave us the courage
0:05:15 > 0:05:16to go forward
0:05:16 > 0:05:18and we looked up to him.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20MONTGOMERY: 'On the eve of this great adventure,
0:05:20 > 0:05:26'to us is given the honour of striking a blow for freedom...'
0:05:26 > 0:05:28We were looking under his feet, you see,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30and he was looking down on us, you see.
0:05:30 > 0:05:31We were looking up at him.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36He just told us just to be brave and to do what we had to do.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39And our objective was, he says, "If we get our objectives
0:05:39 > 0:05:42"on the beach in D-Day, we've done a good job."
0:05:42 > 0:05:47'And with enthusiasm for the contest, let us go forward to victory.'
0:05:47 > 0:05:49He says to me, "Where do you come from?"
0:05:49 > 0:05:52"Sir, I come from Northern Ireland."
0:05:52 > 0:05:54He says, "Then you're an Ulsterman."
0:05:54 > 0:05:56"Yes, sir."
0:05:56 > 0:05:59He says, "If I can't get anybody to fight with,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02"we'll fight among ourselves." That's the words. That's the words.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05As it's true, I'll never forget that, never.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Finally, in the first week of June, 1944,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15the soldiers were mobilised for the invasion of France.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19The countdown to D-Day was almost complete.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23RHYTHMIC DRUMBEATS
0:06:23 > 0:06:27This is it. You'd have heard somebody saying, "This is it.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29"This is the big scheme."
0:06:37 > 0:06:39It was funny, going through some villages, you know.
0:06:39 > 0:06:40People honestly thought,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42"There are those boys, out on exercise again."
0:06:42 > 0:06:44They'd no idea we were on our way to France.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52We were fit, we were young soldiers
0:06:52 > 0:06:54and we couldn't wait to get into action.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58The men from the 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles
0:06:58 > 0:07:02began their overnight journey to the beaches of Normandy.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09But it was men from the Antrim Parachute Squadron
0:07:09 > 0:07:12who were among the first to land in France.
0:07:12 > 0:07:13All bang on. Everything's bang on.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16They were dropped behind German lines
0:07:16 > 0:07:19several hours before the beach invasions.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25We were taking off at 11 o'clock at night on 5th June.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28If anybody was scared, they weren't really showing it,
0:07:28 > 0:07:29because they were so worked up
0:07:29 > 0:07:30about what they were doing.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34They hadn't time to feel scared, you know.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36We'd been training for months and months,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38we just hadn't time to feel scared.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46One lad I knew well, bit younger than me, came to me,
0:07:46 > 0:07:50he says, "Jimmy, I think I'm going to be killed." I said, "What?
0:07:50 > 0:07:53"Everybody could be killed here. One shell, that'll...
0:07:53 > 0:07:55"You and I together, we're blown to bits.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57"Don't think about that at all."
0:07:57 > 0:08:00He said, "I've got a premonition."
0:08:00 > 0:08:03A few days later, he was, he was killed. He and two other fellas.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08Three of them, one mortar bomb got the three of them. Three nice lads.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23You've got to concentrate on landing.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Don't land with one leg in the air
0:08:25 > 0:08:28or headfirst, make sure you're in position,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32feet together, knees bent and, as you hit the ground, roll.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39When I landed, I landed on my own. Didn't know where the hell I was.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49Lo and behold, there was a signpost. I couldn't believe it.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52The Germans, I was told by the French later,
0:08:52 > 0:08:53that they left all the signposts up
0:08:53 > 0:08:55so that they could find their way around
0:08:55 > 0:08:57because they were in a strange country.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04So once I saw that, from my memory of the maps and where everything...
0:09:04 > 0:09:06I knew exactly where I was.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14Having landed behind enemy lines during the early hours of D-Day,
0:09:14 > 0:09:15Jimmy Bowden and his comrades
0:09:15 > 0:09:18had to prepare the way for the airborne invasion.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22The objective was to blow up poles
0:09:22 > 0:09:25to make a runway for the gliders coming in.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29And it was imperative we got those done before three o'clock.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32The general said he was coming in at three o'clock no matter what.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36So we decided we'd have to get those poles down.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Meanwhile, the troops at sea
0:09:40 > 0:09:42were on their way towards the coast of Normandy.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47Towards the beaches, codenamed Utah,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Omaha,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Gold, Juno
0:09:52 > 0:09:53and Sword.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07On the way over, it began to get very, very rough.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11And the ship was bobbing up and down because they were flat-bottomed.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23A lot of them are sick because we're not...
0:10:23 > 0:10:24you're never used to the sea,
0:10:24 > 0:10:26of course we was on land all the time.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33That's why everybody who was sailing kept quiet, never said nothing.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36They've got nothing to talk about, only what's going to happen,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38only what they're going to expect.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51We were told we could write a letter home
0:10:51 > 0:10:55but it wouldn't be posted until after the D-Day landings.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59And these, writing these letters was a bit sad.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02It was sad for me, because I can remember to this day
0:11:02 > 0:11:03writing to my mother,
0:11:03 > 0:11:07telling her how much I love her, and telling the family and all,
0:11:07 > 0:11:08things that I should have told them
0:11:08 > 0:11:10when I was living and in amongst them.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22What was going through my mind at that moment was,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26in the First World War, my grandmother had lost her son.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30And I couldn't help thinking of that. Would I be one of the ones?
0:11:30 > 0:11:33And how would my mother take it and how would she feel?
0:11:33 > 0:11:37And I had said in the letter that if anything happened to me,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41I hoped she would go on in life the way she'd always done,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44with a nice, good smile on her face.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48And remember that I was only one of thousands.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52And just be proud that her son had died for his country.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59As their comrades neared the Normandy beaches,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03back in England, the men of the 1st Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles
0:12:03 > 0:12:06were about to leave for France.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12We weren't told anything. We weren't told anything at all.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14We were brought out on the airfield,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16the gliders were lined up,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18and each company was given a glider.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23This was the day that we'd been trained for.
0:12:23 > 0:12:24And naturally enough...
0:12:24 > 0:12:27People were a bit tense, you know what I mean?
0:12:27 > 0:12:29First time going into action, in the glider.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Knowing that you're going to get hit with flak and not knowing
0:12:32 > 0:12:35if there's going to be planes come at you, or whatever.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38So it was scary at the time, you know.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Inside each glider, a platoon of up to 30 men
0:12:44 > 0:12:47prepared for the hazardous journey into enemy territory.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52The gliders take to the air.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55"Mick, you and I are in a glider.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59"We have no chutes, we're in a plywood coffin" -
0:12:59 > 0:13:01that's what the boys used to call it.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06The portholes in it are Cellophane -
0:13:06 > 0:13:08you could stick your finger through them.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12And if you sit down hard on the seat, you'd have went through it.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Like paper, you could near blow through them.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17And you're always worried, the way they were built,
0:13:17 > 0:13:19they could've fell in two halves, you know?
0:13:19 > 0:13:21I would say it was a death trap.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51The men were quiet. You'd get the odd one making a wee sickly joke.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55And what was going through my officer's mind,
0:13:55 > 0:13:56he was probably saying,
0:13:56 > 0:13:58"What am I going to do when I get ashore here?
0:13:58 > 0:14:01"How are these boys go to perform?" All those sort of things.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Truthfully...like,
0:14:15 > 0:14:20I joined up knowing there's a war on for a start.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22I knew at some time or other
0:14:22 > 0:14:24that I was going to have to go into action.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26So it really, to be honest,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28it didn't really annoy me none, you know?
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Not really, you know.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34You know? Because I accepted, actually, it was...
0:14:34 > 0:14:37full of excitement, more than anything, you know.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48We were flying over the Channel
0:14:48 > 0:14:52and I happened to look out, just look out,
0:14:52 > 0:14:57just seeing the port, all these big ships and all was down below.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59And the sea was bubbling up.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04All I could see was ships.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07But I was thinking, "Well, at least there's a load more
0:15:07 > 0:15:11"going over here, we're all right." That's all I could think of.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13It looked impressive, there's no two ways about it.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22The air was just covered with aircraft of every description.
0:15:22 > 0:15:28Bombers, gliders, the airborne going over, the paratroopers going over.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31And it was this tremendous feeling that you had just such support -
0:15:31 > 0:15:35to see all that overhead and all that around you,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37you felt almost that nothing could touch you.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43As the airborne troops flew overhead,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47the men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles
0:15:47 > 0:15:50were about to go into action on Sword Beach.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55The furious battle to liberate Europe was under way.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00EXPLOSIONS
0:16:03 > 0:16:06When we got about maybe half a mile out,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10we could see the rest of the brigade. They were in front of us.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13There was just a whole crowd in front, like a big triangle.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25When we come in near the beach,
0:16:25 > 0:16:29the ship that I was on set down in about eight feet of water.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33Now, eight feet of water is enough to drown any man
0:16:33 > 0:16:38with 56lb of gear, and a Bren gun, and a bicycle, and all that.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40You would go down to Davy Jones' Locker
0:16:40 > 0:16:41and you wouldn't rise too easily.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45GUNFIRE
0:16:48 > 0:16:49Nobody was going to get in that water.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54You'd all your equipment, and then you had a bicycle on one arm
0:16:54 > 0:16:59and some people had Bren guns and mortars, all on their shoulders.
0:16:59 > 0:17:00And picks and shovels.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03GUNFIRE
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Every single man, from the CO down, had a bicycle.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13I made a decision when I was on the boat
0:17:13 > 0:17:16that I couldn't get off with all that weight.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19So I just lifted the bicycle, threw it over the side,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23and that was a wee bit lighter, left me with my Bren gun and my gear.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39Got my rifle, wrapped my sling around the handlebar,
0:17:39 > 0:17:44put the butt onto the seat, hoisted it onto my shoulder
0:17:44 > 0:17:46and held on to the rifle,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48so it wouldn't come off and into the water.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51That left that hand free
0:17:51 > 0:17:54and I just walked down the ramp into the water.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59GUNFIRE
0:18:01 > 0:18:04I put the rope underneath my arm and I held the Bren gun -
0:18:04 > 0:18:07I used to call it Betsy. And it wasn't any name
0:18:07 > 0:18:10of a girlfriend or anything, it was just a habit I had.
0:18:10 > 0:18:11I had it over my shoulder, I says,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13"Betsy, you're going to get baptised."
0:18:20 > 0:18:23There was a great swell on the water.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25And whenever it would come in on your back,
0:18:25 > 0:18:27it was pushing you forward.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29And whenever it was coming back out again,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32it was catching you and pulling you back again.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39The water was just splashing right over your head, splashing away.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41I was actually up to my neck, holding on to the rope.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43You might be standing there, holding on,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47and a sniper, maybe some machine-gun fire and things like that there.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50GUNFIRE
0:18:51 > 0:18:55As we made our way in, there was a large quantity of shells
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and mortar fire, all falling on the beach.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05And there were these houses, and there was German snipers
0:19:05 > 0:19:09and people like that and then, there was, of course, in the background,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12there was the artillery fire and the mortar fire,
0:19:12 > 0:19:13all landing on the beach.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16GUNFIRE
0:19:22 > 0:19:24All I was doing was...
0:19:24 > 0:19:26"Get off! Get off!"
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Cos you could see, every now and again, shellfire landing
0:19:30 > 0:19:33and it was just a matter of, "Get off!"
0:19:33 > 0:19:35GUNFIRE
0:19:40 > 0:19:43We quickly made our way up to the place called...
0:19:43 > 0:19:46It was just off the shore. ..Lion sur Mer.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49We got there, which was the assembly point.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59After flying over Sword Beach, and the River Orne,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01the 1st Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles landed
0:20:01 > 0:20:04south of the village of Ranville.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27It was up to the pilot to get you to the destination that you want.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29Taking into account, going into France,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32they had spikes and everything up in the fields and that.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38And, sure enough, the gliders came in over our heads, over the wood.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41It must've been their mark, coming in, was the wood.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43And they came right over our heads and landed.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49Underneath the glider was a chute.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53The glider is supposed to land on that chute
0:20:53 > 0:20:55and it's supposed to land flat.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59But with the fields and hedgerows, they couldn't.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04So the one we were in, the chute hit the hedgerow
0:21:04 > 0:21:06and we just turned up,
0:21:06 > 0:21:08and we were all thrown from the back of the glider
0:21:08 > 0:21:11to the front of the glider, on top of the pilots.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18All of a sudden, if you're at the back of a glider,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20you can hear the crunch.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27You have then got to get some of the men out,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30forming defensive positions all round the glider,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33and then taking part in the whole linking up
0:21:33 > 0:21:36in the particular D-Day operation.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39We formed up to attack.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Go! Go! Up this way! Up this way!
0:21:42 > 0:21:47Out of all the dust and dirt and all, came these fellas running.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49And they had Vickers machine guns.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51Like, they ran past us, shouting,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53and we knew they were Ulster Rifles, all right!
0:21:53 > 0:21:54And they were going into action.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56Let's go!
0:21:56 > 0:21:59GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:22:00 > 0:22:03The village of Longueval and Ranville -
0:22:03 > 0:22:06this was our main object when we landed.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10It was to land and secure them two villages.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Which...we did.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19After their successful D-Day landings,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22the men dug in for their first night in the battlefield.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Of course, I thought I was doing a smart thing on the boat.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30I put a pair of socks into my mess tin.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33So's I'd have a pair of dry socks.
0:22:33 > 0:22:40So, whenever we dug in for the night, er, we always dug our tents,
0:22:40 > 0:22:46a pair of us, and we always dug a hole in the side wall of the trench
0:22:46 > 0:22:50and we were able to make a drop of tea in that.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Cos we had the equipment for doing that,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55our hardtack, as they called it.
0:22:55 > 0:22:56And, er...
0:22:58 > 0:23:00..I took my mess tin out and...
0:23:02 > 0:23:04..I had to take my socks out!
0:23:04 > 0:23:05HE CHUCKLES
0:23:05 > 0:23:09They were... They were wringing, so I'd no need to change my socks.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12So I just hung the ones that I had on
0:23:12 > 0:23:17up on a bit of hedge at the back of us to let them dry out!
0:23:19 > 0:23:21But, for the young soldiers,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25the reality of war began to hit home
0:23:25 > 0:23:27as darkness fell on D-Day.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Everything was all right until the night-time.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39It was very frightening, very scary.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Because I was on my own in a foreign country.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Just realising that war was war,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50was different to what I thought when we were landing.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Completely different.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58EXPLOSIONS
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Scared, not knowing what was going to happen.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Nobody knew who was there, we didn't know who was who.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10You know, because we didn't know who got off the craft and who didn't.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14All you knew, all you were interested in was your own section,
0:24:14 > 0:24:15your own platoon.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22The one I was in was the one my mate was in, he was on guard.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28And I came over, they started firing the 88 millimetre.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32And, unflatteringly, I wanted my mum.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37But my mum was dead.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39I'm not afraid to admit it.
0:24:39 > 0:24:40And I'm sure I wasn't the only one.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:24:43 > 0:24:45The captain came along and he said to me,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49"You all right, McConnell?" I says, "No, I want my mum."
0:24:51 > 0:24:53So he just shook me
0:24:53 > 0:24:56and he just touched me on the chin with the back of his hand.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Brought me round to reality.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Brought back my senses again, let's put it that way.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06GUNFIRE FADES
0:25:06 > 0:25:09BIRDSONG
0:25:12 > 0:25:14I felt a bit brighter.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17At dawn I'm sure everybody was the same as me.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22When the dawn come, maybe you could have give it a clap.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33The city of Caen was the German stronghold in Normandy.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38But for the Allies, it was the gateway to Paris.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44After his traumatic night, Bill McConnell and a small group of men
0:25:44 > 0:25:48were selected to travel undercover to Caen
0:25:48 > 0:25:51on a dangerous but vital mission.
0:25:53 > 0:25:58We got orders to find out the strength of the German army
0:25:58 > 0:26:01because, again, they were told very little.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14And we got picked up by one of the French Resistance.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22An old civilian truck where the French came and took us all.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32When we got there, there was a garrison there,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34and that's some soldiers, I can assure you.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40It was just outside the fort
0:26:40 > 0:26:43where the Germans were very, very...
0:26:43 > 0:26:46There were thousands of them there.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55We were standing at the bottom of that fort, but not for long.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59Captain Martin was away, we thought we'd lost him,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01he'd been taken, because he was away for about a half an hour.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06And we had to stand and hide there and the Germans are walking up and down the blinking road.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10I'd never seen any Germans in reality before.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13But I was in their midst, walking amongst them.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19And if we had have been caught, well, that was it.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22But we knew the consequences.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Apparently we were to go in to take Cambes.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37I'm glad we didn't have to go in and try and take it that morning.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Or that night, or we'd have been slaughtered.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47It was decided that the men of 2nd Battalion who had landed
0:27:47 > 0:27:51at Sword Beach would advance toward Caen.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55But first, they had to capture Cambes Wood.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01The information they'd got - that the main entrance to Caen
0:28:01 > 0:28:04wasn't heavily defended. And that was Cambes.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18The Germans were supposed to be there.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23And that was the first attack we were making on the way to Caen.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38When we were advancing closer, it was very, very heavy corn.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42A thick corn. And it was up above our waist.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46Must've been about 1,500 yards across that field.
0:28:46 > 0:28:51And there was shelling and mortaring going on and all the rest of it.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:28:59 > 0:29:02We advanced with calmness and steadiness
0:29:02 > 0:29:04and kept in line all the way up.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09We were told then we were attacking and we could see a hedge,
0:29:09 > 0:29:13and then whenever you got across the hedge and then you saw the wall,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15and it was ten foot high.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18You'd no chance of getting over that.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23We had no scaling gear,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26we were told nothing about climbing over walls or anything.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29And when they'd done a reconnaissance on it,
0:29:29 > 0:29:32they couldn't see very well to see what was inside
0:29:32 > 0:29:34and what was happening.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37So they didn't know really what they were up against.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Whether it was a shell of our own or what had hit the wall,
0:29:44 > 0:29:46there was a big U-shape hole in the wall.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51The gap will always be in my mind
0:29:51 > 0:29:55and the thing that always hits me
0:29:55 > 0:30:00is, "Will you come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly."
0:30:00 > 0:30:06Cos it just looked like an invitation in but you weren't going to get out.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18And whenever you went into the woods,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21you were just met with tree after tree.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25You were more or less dodging round the trees to move along.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28And whenever you got down then, you were crawling round them.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32But when we got in about, I would say, a good three parts of the way
0:30:32 > 0:30:34into that wood to the left...
0:30:38 > 0:30:44EXPLOSIONS AND SHOUTING
0:30:50 > 0:30:52..the machine gun in front, that opened up,
0:30:52 > 0:30:54and the machine gun to the left opened up.
0:30:54 > 0:31:00MACHINE GUN FIRE AND SHOUTING
0:31:05 > 0:31:09They had to retreat, leaving a lot of their dead behind.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11Their company commander was killed
0:31:11 > 0:31:15and some of our own lads was left behind in that wood.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20In their first experience of close combat,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23the men had suffered serious casualties.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27But they were determined to capture Cambes Wood,
0:31:27 > 0:31:29and went into battle once again.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37They made a second attack across the same cornfield.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41And the shelling was heavier on this occasion.
0:31:43 > 0:31:49But I kept going on anyway and the next thing, about, I would say,
0:31:49 > 0:31:54it wouldn't be any more than six or eight yards from me,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58seeing this thing land and explode, and the next thing...
0:31:58 > 0:32:01EXPLOSION AND SCREAMING
0:32:02 > 0:32:04..I had got it.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09There was a ditch, so I went in there
0:32:09 > 0:32:12and two stretcher-bearers come in.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20A serious shrapnel wound to his right shoulder
0:32:20 > 0:32:23had brought Richard Keegan's war in Normandy to an end.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28But for Richard's comrades,
0:32:28 > 0:32:33the worst was yet to come in the battle for Cambes Wood.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40Went right up through that wood till we got up to a big farmhouse
0:32:40 > 0:32:44and then when we got to the farmhouse, we took up position.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54And for five solid hours, we were mortared and shelled.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Five hours non-stop.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05Mortar bombs and mortars.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08They were just... They was lying there with their legs blown off
0:33:08 > 0:33:12and things like that. No trenches. Just what the enemy had dug.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22We lost a tremendous number of men.
0:33:22 > 0:33:28Somewhere near 200 were wounded or killed, and that is a powerful lot
0:33:28 > 0:33:32out of a battalion, was wounded or killed on that particular day.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38And it wasn't till afterwards when you stopped
0:33:38 > 0:33:41and you started to defend the woods you were in and you looked back
0:33:41 > 0:33:45and you saw your mates there and saw them wounded so badly
0:33:45 > 0:33:47and some of them killed, that it really hit you
0:33:47 > 0:33:49and really went home to you.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Across the River Orne, the men from 1st Battalion
0:33:57 > 0:34:00were waiting for orders to advance.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03Within hours, it turned into a day
0:34:03 > 0:34:07that the young soldiers would never forget.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13On the morning of the 7th June, we were lying at Longueval
0:34:13 > 0:34:18and at seven o'clock in the morning we were supposed to do an attack.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20But the attack was held up until midday,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23until the naval guns
0:34:23 > 0:34:27and the Canadian artillery were supporting us.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34We were told by intelligence that the enemy was light in St Honorine.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40At 12 o'clock, we were given the order to advance.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44As I went up the cornfield, there's a little hillock there
0:34:44 > 0:34:48and as soon as I got over the top of it to go down into the dip,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51we seen what we thought was a fence in front of us
0:34:51 > 0:34:54but this fence... started moving back.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58We thought we were seeing things.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Then the guns started shelling our guns.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22The Germans were firing from St Honorine,
0:35:22 > 0:35:24the Navy was firing from the sea
0:35:24 > 0:35:26and the Canadians were firing below us
0:35:26 > 0:35:28on the other side of the river,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30and they were hitting us and we were caught in an arc of fire
0:35:30 > 0:35:34where we couldn't move forward, back or sideways.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44It's different, your enemy wounding you and killing you,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48but when it comes to some of our regiment...
0:35:48 > 0:35:51They might have had a bit of gumption.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03We were pinned down with heavy fire. We had to pull back.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05We couldn't have held the position.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09All we were doing was getting casualties and nothing in return.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15For the men, the casualties were not only fellow soldiers,
0:36:15 > 0:36:17but sometimes best friends.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21In the morning of attacking St Honorine,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24there was a friend of mine I went to school with, Bobby Stevenson.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26Bobby went to 1st Battalion the same time as I did,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28from the Young Soldiers Battalion.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37On the advance, Bobby Stevenson shouted me...
0:36:37 > 0:36:39He said, "Bill, I'll see you afterwards."
0:36:40 > 0:36:42But I happened to turn around
0:36:42 > 0:36:45and there's a shell, an 88 millimetre.
0:36:49 > 0:36:50And he was blown to pieces.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56Now, there wasn't a senior officer near him.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59When this happens, there must be a senior officer present
0:36:59 > 0:37:01to say that the man's been killed.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05There wasn't even his bootlaces.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18Some of your comrades get hit or get killed,
0:37:18 > 0:37:20you're sorry and that,
0:37:20 > 0:37:22and you feel rotten,
0:37:22 > 0:37:25but you can't let it get you down.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27You can't just let it get you down, you know?
0:37:35 > 0:37:38We were cut off for a few days
0:37:38 > 0:37:42and things were not very good.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54We came under a lot of shells and that there.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57They had what you called, they called it the Moaning Minnies.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00They were more or less like blasts.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03You used to hear the Moaning Minnie.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07The mortar was fired... I think it was five.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09It went boom...boom...
0:38:09 > 0:38:11boom...boom...
0:38:11 > 0:38:15and then a wee pause,
0:38:15 > 0:38:16and then boom!
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Dreadful. Really, really dreadful. There's no doubt about it.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30You know? You're always saying, "Maybe the next one's for me",
0:38:30 > 0:38:33sort of thing, but that was scary.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36It was very, very scary, you know?
0:38:36 > 0:38:41So it was. Cos they really pumped the shells in, really did.
0:38:45 > 0:38:47For the men cut off in Longueval,
0:38:47 > 0:38:52the effects of war were beginning to take their toll.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00When you move in to bury dead people -
0:39:00 > 0:39:03wounded, grotesque horrors -
0:39:03 > 0:39:06you can't describe the horror.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08Words won't describe them.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12Even paintings won't describe them.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15It just beggars description, really.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26War is grotesque.
0:39:27 > 0:39:33You could never describe the horrors of war to any one particular person.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41Couldn't aptly describe them.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44Oh, I could go into details, lurid details...
0:39:44 > 0:39:47The physical damage, the mental damage -
0:39:47 > 0:39:49you couldn't describe it.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59For five weeks, Caen, the so-called Gateway to Paris,
0:39:59 > 0:40:02remained the Allies' objective.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05But only after a huge aerial bombardment
0:40:05 > 0:40:09was the heavily defended city finally liberated.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14We saw these planes coming over our head,
0:40:14 > 0:40:16and we knew Caen to be three miles away from where we were.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28Actually could see the bombs dropping on Caen,
0:40:28 > 0:40:33and, with the guns, you could feel the ground shaking under our feet.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39How in the name those people lived through that...
0:40:39 > 0:40:41The destruction going on the whole night long,
0:40:41 > 0:40:43whole night long...
0:40:43 > 0:40:45and then it stopped after that, the daylight came,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48knowing we had to go and attack.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51And nobody knew what to expect going into it.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58The rubble was still all over the roads, no roads or nothing,
0:40:58 > 0:40:59you couldn't get...
0:40:59 > 0:41:01You were lucky to get walking on them.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05It was really in a bad mess.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07It was mad. The only thing standing was the church.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31That was the capital of Normandy, and we took the capital of Normandy.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35That was the first city in Europe to be liberated.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45You knew that the people of France would be delighted to be liberated.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49People were so glad, so happy, you know?
0:41:50 > 0:41:52Showed their appreciation.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Everybody was pleased. The officers and everybody was pleased.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Even they got from Montgomery himself,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09although it took a long time, he said they achieved
0:42:09 > 0:42:12their objective and it makes all the difference now to the war.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14That's all they wanted.
0:42:15 > 0:42:16ALL: Hurray!
0:42:24 > 0:42:27Not all the soldiers were fortunate enough
0:42:27 > 0:42:30to experience the joys of liberation.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33Badly injured on the battlefield,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37Stanley Burrows had already been sent back to England,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39reluctantly parted from his comrades...
0:42:41 > 0:42:43..and his best friend from Belfast.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48I didn't want to go.
0:42:48 > 0:42:49They weren't severe burns
0:42:49 > 0:42:52like people would get out of these flame-throwers.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55And I thought I'd be all right if I stayed the night
0:42:55 > 0:42:58and stayed along with my old pal Crangles.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Crangles was one of the best chums I ever had.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11We got on terribly well together.
0:43:11 > 0:43:12We went through all the scrapes
0:43:12 > 0:43:15and things that you go through in army life together...
0:43:15 > 0:43:18The boys that bullied and the boys that didn't,
0:43:18 > 0:43:19and we looked after each other,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22and watched over each other's shoulders for one another
0:43:22 > 0:43:25in that way that good comrades do within the Forces.
0:43:31 > 0:43:32When I was in hospital,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34my mother had wrote to the medical staff
0:43:34 > 0:43:37to find out all about just what was to happen to me.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43And the letter arrived, and in it she told me then
0:43:43 > 0:43:45that Crangles had been killed.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47And that was very, very sad to me to hear that.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02Here's somebody I've soldiered with for all these years
0:44:02 > 0:44:06and now he's killed, and I wondered just what happened,
0:44:06 > 0:44:07the way it happened,
0:44:07 > 0:44:10and that's one of the reasons I was anxious to get back,
0:44:10 > 0:44:14to see if I could get any details about where he was
0:44:14 > 0:44:16and where he was buried and all the rest.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23When I went back and I saw the beautiful graves
0:44:23 > 0:44:26and the way they were looked after, a big burden had left me.
0:44:26 > 0:44:32And here I was, I saw Crangles' grave and I tell you,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34I shed a tear or two. I...
0:44:34 > 0:44:37Excuse me... I felt it very much.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40It touched me.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44It does. Even now to talk about it. It touched me.
0:45:00 > 0:45:01He was a dear pal,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04who meant the world to me.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15When I go back, it makes me live it all over again.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17It all comes back to you
0:45:17 > 0:45:19but you can't help feeling it. It's just there with you,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22and I think you'll go to the grave with it.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25It will always be something that you'll remember all your life.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39I have asked that my ashes be scattered in Ranville Cemetery
0:45:39 > 0:45:42beside the Airborne Cross, that's one of my wishes.
0:45:46 > 0:45:47I think I belong there.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51With the boys that I would know.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58I can still see faces of people there as I knew them,
0:45:58 > 0:45:59before they were killed.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11The arching at the cemetery in Bayeux
0:46:11 > 0:46:16is for the people who are still missing.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18A lot of them we know to be killed.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24Except there was a senior officer present,
0:46:24 > 0:46:26they're still down as missing in action.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29There's Bobby Stevenson's name on that.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36I can still see him.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38Even though it's only in the name on the wall.
0:46:41 > 0:46:42He's still there with me.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47Times was... you have to shake your head sometimes
0:46:47 > 0:46:51trying to forget about it, and you can't. I can't.
0:46:51 > 0:46:52I don't think I ever will do.
0:46:54 > 0:46:55Just what it means.
0:47:03 > 0:47:08'The people of Longueval are very great with the Ulster Rifles.'
0:47:11 > 0:47:19Longueval was a place which we relieved on the 7th June,
0:47:19 > 0:47:21and that's why we put the memorial there.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25Like the 2nd Battalion, they done Cambes-en-Plaine
0:47:25 > 0:47:28on the 7th to the 9th June.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31And that's why we put the memorial there as well, for the 2nd Battalion.
0:47:39 > 0:47:40You know the old saying,
0:47:40 > 0:47:42they give their today for your tomorrow,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44that's very, very true.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47Very true. People will remember that.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10This is something that happened,
0:48:10 > 0:48:14that if the world had have been a better place,
0:48:14 > 0:48:16wouldn't have happened.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18But when it did happen,
0:48:18 > 0:48:24and the men went out and fought for what was right,
0:48:24 > 0:48:27then it was worthwhile.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33Even those killed, wounded, lost limbs and all the rest of it,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36it was, at the bitter end, worthwhile,
0:48:36 > 0:48:40because it sort of made a better place for us to live in.