0:00:04 > 0:00:08Good morning and welcome to D-Day 70: The Heroes Remember.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11I'm at Fort Southwick near Portsmouth today.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15It was built in Victorian times, but during the Second World War,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19this fort and the warren of underground tunnels
0:00:19 > 0:00:2030 feet below me here
0:00:20 > 0:00:23housed the secret communication headquarters
0:00:23 > 0:00:26in the run-up to the Normandy Invasion.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28This Friday is the 70th anniversary of D-Day,
0:00:28 > 0:00:32the iconic battle of the Second World War,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35and all this week we'll be recounting the events
0:00:35 > 0:00:37that led up to this historic day -
0:00:37 > 0:00:41a day that left its mark on all of those who took part in it.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46You were no longer a teenager or anything like that - you were...
0:00:46 > 0:00:48You had become a man.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51You were at school one minute and you're nursing dying men the next!
0:00:51 > 0:00:55I mean...only war would do that to you.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58It took over one's whole life, of course, at that time.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02It was very much...
0:01:03 > 0:01:07..the be-all of one's existence.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12You realised that life was not the sort of thing
0:01:12 > 0:01:15that you could just fritter away.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19It was something that you'd got to hold on to, and it was precious.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46The events of 70 years ago changed the course of the Second World War.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48It was an extraordinary endeavour,
0:01:48 > 0:01:50but not without cost.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53D-Day involved more than 150,000 troops -
0:01:53 > 0:01:55and many of them paid the ultimate price.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Today, Dan Snow goes aboard
0:01:58 > 0:02:01one of the Royal Navy's largest aircraft carriers
0:02:01 > 0:02:04to look at the role of the fleet during D-Day.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07It must have been so nerve-racking and tense for them,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09but, again, they're trained to do it
0:02:09 > 0:02:12and they did it to the best of their ability and they did it very well.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17A veteran shares the incredible diary
0:02:17 > 0:02:19he kept during the Normandy Invasion.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22It's written in very small writing.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24It was actually falling to pieces
0:02:24 > 0:02:26and somebody very kindly put it together.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31James Holland goes underground to explore the secret tunnels
0:02:31 > 0:02:34that were home to the communication centre for D-Day.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37If you look at more or less any history book on D-Day,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40this place is missing. My mum lived two miles from here
0:02:40 > 0:02:43and she didn't have a clue that the place was built.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48And we follow a veteran's journey
0:02:48 > 0:02:51to honour fallen soldiers on their return home.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Up here on top of Portsdown Hill, I'm right in D-Day country.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01In the months leading up to the invasion,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05a stretch of land from Portsmouth Harbour here on the coast
0:03:05 > 0:03:10to ten miles inland was transformed into a vast Army camp.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14It was declared a military exclusion zone, closed to all visitors.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16The area all around me here
0:03:16 > 0:03:19would have been full of British, Canadian and American troops
0:03:19 > 0:03:23camping in fields, woods and requisitioned buildings.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28Best friends Mary and Patricia, who were ten-year-old girls in 1944,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31remember it vividly.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34WARTIME MUSIC PLAYS
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Well, in those days, the village was quite small.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48And, well, we knew everyone in the village!
0:03:53 > 0:03:55The whole area
0:03:55 > 0:03:58was overrun with American soldiers - it was...
0:03:58 > 0:04:00You know, they were everywhere.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Pat and I have been friends for round about 75 years.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17We first met when we were about nine.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25I can remember quite clearly when the GIs came - it was in April 1944.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27The American army had moved in
0:04:27 > 0:04:32and one of the lorries had collided with a load of pigs.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35- Ooh!- And the pigs had escaped,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39and the GIs were running around trying to catch the pigs.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41The whole thing was total chaos,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45and that was my first introduction to the Americans.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59They were very friendly - we got on with them extremely well.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04Thursdays was a good day to sit on the fence and chat to the GIs.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06They used to say, "Do you want some candy?"
0:05:06 > 0:05:09- That's right, yes. - And we never said no!
0:05:09 > 0:05:11SHE CHUCKLES
0:05:11 > 0:05:14You see, it's quite important to remember
0:05:14 > 0:05:17that the farm was quite rural.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Pat and I were the only children, so we were quite spoilt, weren't we?
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Yes, we were - very spoilt.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34The farm barn was requisitioned, you see.
0:05:34 > 0:05:35My father had no choice in it -
0:05:35 > 0:05:37they just came and said, "We want your barn."
0:05:37 > 0:05:40They used it for meetings and concerts.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43From what I recall, they had a sort of projection...
0:05:43 > 0:05:45- Yes, you're right. I remember that.- ..place up there,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48where they used to show the films.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52- Yes.- And they used to put wooden chairs, didn't they?- Yes.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55- And, er...- The stage was that end.
0:05:55 > 0:05:56The stage was that end. That's right.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59The films came straight from Hollywood,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01before they went to the West End of London.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05So when we were allowed... We weren't always allowed to go,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07- but we used to go when we could, didn't we?- Yes!
0:06:10 > 0:06:14- And this is the famous cupboard. - Oh, that's the cupboard!
0:06:14 > 0:06:17- Oh!- Look - it's so tiny!
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Oh, my goodness!
0:06:19 > 0:06:22- This is where you used to go. - This was our air-raid shelter.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25How many... Did you get in there with your mother?!
0:06:25 > 0:06:26Not many. It would have been...
0:06:26 > 0:06:28- But you had Granny as well! - Had Granny as well.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33Not infrequently, we had these...
0:06:33 > 0:06:37what we called doodlebugs, which were pilotless planes,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and they were dispatched from the French coast
0:06:41 > 0:06:45and then when they got over the English coast,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48the engine would cut out.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53And then, within seconds, it would land and it was a bomb, virtually.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58EXPLOSION
0:06:59 > 0:07:05And so you had this really scary moment when you could hear it coming
0:07:05 > 0:07:06and then the engine cut out.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11And it was complete silence.
0:07:11 > 0:07:12And you didn't know where to go,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15because you didn't know where it was going to land.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22I think this must have been taken about six weeks before D-Day -
0:07:22 > 0:07:25sometime in early May, I expect.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30The GI in the photograph was Sergeant Don Hillier.
0:07:30 > 0:07:36He became quite friendly with us. He used to come in and out and chat.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41He went on D-Day, or thereabouts, and we heard nothing more of him.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49The thing I remember about D-Day is seeing all the...
0:07:50 > 0:07:54The soldiers in the field the night before.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58I sat there, watching them, then went to bed.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03When I got up in the morning, looked out the window,
0:08:03 > 0:08:04they were completely gone.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06There was nothing left.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13And I've always thought that must have been the eve of D-Day.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18And I've often thought about that over the years.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21That was the end of us...
0:08:21 > 0:08:23- seeing the soldiers there. - It was, yes.
0:08:28 > 0:08:29Well, I'm joined by three women
0:08:29 > 0:08:33who also vividly remember the build-up to D-Day.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36Christian, Pam and Pat, you were all Wrens, weren't you?
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Members of the Women's Royal Naval Service.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41What was it that made you join up in the first place?
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Well, it was mostly my godfather, who was a Destroyer captain,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49and he said all the girls in the family should go into the Wrens,
0:08:49 > 0:08:50so I went into the Wrens.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52And you spoke German, didn't you?
0:08:52 > 0:08:54I'd learnt German from my grandfather's cook,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56who was an Austrian refugee,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00and I went into what they called
0:09:00 > 0:09:05the Special Duties Linguist Branch of Naval Intelligence.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07- And Pam, you were also a linguist? - Yes, I was.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12Mine was academic - I had a degree in French and German.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15And what spurred you on to join?
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Oh, well, I think I had always had a...
0:09:20 > 0:09:21..feeling for the Navy.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25I spent a lot of my childhood wishing that I had been a boy
0:09:25 > 0:09:27and could join the Navy.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31And so when this opportunity arose,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35I offered myself, and, of course, I had German.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37And Christian, why did you join the Wrens?
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Well, I was brought up in the Navy - my father was an admiral -
0:09:41 > 0:09:44and so we travelled abroad with him as children.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46So I'd always been involved in the Navy.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50And I came back from France, which I'd been to
0:09:50 > 0:09:53when I left school, having a telegram from my father saying,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55"War - you must come home at once."
0:09:55 > 0:09:57And so we all had to do our bit,
0:09:57 > 0:10:02and obviously the Wrens was what I needed to join, so I joined it.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05In the build-up - in the months and the weeks
0:10:05 > 0:10:08in the build-up to D-Day - what were you doing?
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Well, they had this part of the Admiralty
0:10:11 > 0:10:14which was opposite the Horse Guards Parade.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16It was called Richmond Terrace.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19And there I had an office, deep down in the basement.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22And the rest of the building was filled with...
0:10:22 > 0:10:24Mostly, the top floor seemed to have
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Churchill and all his boffins up there.
0:10:26 > 0:10:33The whole office was surrounded by enormous maps of the French coast
0:10:33 > 0:10:37and my job was to, er...
0:10:37 > 0:10:42delineate every compass bearing from five different places,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44from which they were going to land.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47It was as if you were a captain of a ship and you came up
0:10:47 > 0:10:49and you wanted to see where you were.
0:10:49 > 0:10:50I had drawn out what you would see -
0:10:50 > 0:10:54like, you might see a church, a castle, a railway, a road -
0:10:54 > 0:10:58and then the next compass bearing, you would have to put exact details.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01You had to be very accurate. It was interesting to know
0:11:01 > 0:11:03that that was exactly where they were going to land.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07And Pam, you were on the coast at the time, weren't you?
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Yes, I was between Dover and Folkestone, on interception.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15We were always twiddling away, just in case anything
0:11:15 > 0:11:21really operational turned up, and we were watching 24 hours.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Like Pam, sort of searching along the radio frequencies
0:11:25 > 0:11:28for German naval traffic.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33Most of it was in Enigma four-letter code, using the German alphabet,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35and all that was teleprinted immediately
0:11:35 > 0:11:40to what we called Station X, which was Bletchley Park.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45And we also listened to Morse - we also had to learn Morse -
0:11:45 > 0:11:49so we could do it in Morse or plain language.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52And there was a lot of traffic going on
0:11:52 > 0:11:55from the German stations and ships at that time.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58And you got the sense that this was building up,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01- that something was going to happen? - Oh, yes, you did.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04It was very tense, somehow, the whole feeling.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06The thing was, one couldn't dine out on it.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08One couldn't say, "I've been working on..."
0:12:08 > 0:12:10because it was all deadly secret,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14and none of us ever told anybody - not even the next-door office,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17which would have somebody doing something equally interesting.
0:12:17 > 0:12:18Of course, I never told anybody -
0:12:18 > 0:12:20not even my husband - what I'd been doing.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23We were all completely silent about what we were doing.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25It was extraordinary.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Well, by early 1944, preparations for D-Day
0:12:29 > 0:12:31were gathering momentum all over the country.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36But the hub of the communication and plotting for Operation Overlord,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38the codename for the invasion of Normandy,
0:12:38 > 0:12:43was here, in a vast network of tunnels 30 feet below me.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47They were dug into the chalky cliff as early as 1942,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50in preparation for the Normandy Invasion.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54James Holland explores this secret maze and looks at
0:12:54 > 0:12:57some of the extraordinary inventions that D-Day required.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11In June 1944, as more than 150,000 troops
0:13:11 > 0:13:14were preparing to cross the Channel, many thousands more
0:13:14 > 0:13:18were managing the huge logistical operation from Southwick.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24The Allied commanders had their headquarters at Southwick House.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26But all the information they needed,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30from the progress of cross-Channel shipping thorough to radio traffic,
0:13:30 > 0:13:32was co-ordinated here at Fort Southwick.
0:13:34 > 0:13:35Or, to be more precise,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38from the mile and a half of bombproof shelters down below it.
0:13:41 > 0:13:42'Bob Hunt was nine years old
0:13:42 > 0:13:46'when he found a door to a tunnel system below Fort Southwick.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49'It began a lifelong interest in the extraordinary history
0:13:49 > 0:13:52'of this little-known military headquarters
0:13:52 > 0:13:55'that played such a vital role in the Normandy invasions.'
0:13:57 > 0:14:00This is the plotting room we're actually standing in now.
0:14:00 > 0:14:056am, 6th June 1944, there were 700 people working underground.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07- Really?- They were working 12-hour shifts on, 12 off.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10And there were another thousand working in the fort above us.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15They were mostly Wrens as well - 18 years old. Several hundred of them.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18And this is where the plotting table would have been.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21It's kind of the size of a full-size snooker table, really.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24And the plot was made on the map,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28so radar reports of where the shipping was,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30so there was an awful lot going on.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32I never even knew this place existed.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35I mean, it's as though it's just been completely forgotten, isn't it?
0:14:35 > 0:14:39Well, it has. If you look at more or less any history book on D-Day,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41this place is missing from it.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43My mum, who was a girl then, 12 years old,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45lived two miles from here
0:14:45 > 0:14:48and she didn't have a clue that the place was built.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54More than 100 rooms throughout the tunnel system housed everything from
0:14:54 > 0:14:58plotting and telecommunication hubs to dormitories and dining rooms.
0:14:58 > 0:15:0192-year-old Barbara Edwards was a Wren
0:15:01 > 0:15:05and remembers travelling to work in the tunnels during the war.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08A bus would arrive and we'd all pile on to that.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13And then it would bring you to the opening tunnel
0:15:13 > 0:15:16of the place and we'd have to pile out again,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20and get out and hopefully find where you were meant to be,
0:15:20 > 0:15:25which was more luck than good management really.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30Can you remember the stairs from the top of Fort Southwick down to here?
0:15:30 > 0:15:32All too well.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38I used to spend my life going up and down stairs, really.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40They were very, very steep.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43- And a lot of them. - And a lot of them.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Obviously in the summer of 1944, the Nazis unleashed a new weapon,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50which was the doodlebugs, and they started coming over,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53these rocket-propelled missiles, and terrorizing the British people.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57Yes. At one time we were a target for our old friend doodlebugs.
0:15:57 > 0:16:04And if they were directed properly they could hit something,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06which luckily didn't happen very often.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08As soon as you heard a doodlebug,
0:16:08 > 0:16:14was to just go and get your head down, fast, go somewhere safe,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16because it was bound to drop.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20But luckily there weren't an awful lot of them, if I remember.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22Are you surprised that people are still interested
0:16:22 > 0:16:25- in the Second World War? - No, I'm not.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27I think it's a very good thing - it's the only way
0:16:27 > 0:16:32they'll stop having another one, if they realise how awful it was,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34and the waste of life.
0:16:39 > 0:16:40The importance of the work
0:16:40 > 0:16:43that Wrens like Barbara did - managing communications,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46co-ordinating the movement of Allied forces,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and then the huge task of supplying those troops -
0:16:49 > 0:16:52was critical to the Allies' success.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58More than 150,000 men were landed on D-Day,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01but by the middle of July that had risen to 1.5 million.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05What you have to remember is that every single one of those troops
0:17:05 > 0:17:07had to be fed, clothed and equipped.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12In other words, victory was going to be all about logistics.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23One problem was how to get thousands of vehicles to the French coast.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26This gave birth to the incredible engineering feat
0:17:26 > 0:17:29of the Mulberry harbours - giant floating platforms
0:17:29 > 0:17:34that were towed across the Channel and assembled on the Normandy coast.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39It still astounds me
0:17:39 > 0:17:43that the British had the vision and frankly sheer nerve
0:17:43 > 0:17:46to pull off something quite so extraordinary and huge
0:17:46 > 0:17:47as the Mulberry harbours.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52But that wasn't the only project dreamt up by British engineers.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55With vast numbers of vehicles over in Normandy, it was going to be
0:17:55 > 0:17:58clear that supplying them with fuel was going to be a major problem.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03The solution was just as ambitious.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07A 70-mile-long pipeline was unrolled from huge drums
0:18:07 > 0:18:10across the Channel in just ten hours.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Operation Pluto allowed millions of gallons of petrol
0:18:13 > 0:18:15to be pumped directly to the front lines
0:18:15 > 0:18:19from secret pumping stations on the Isle of Wight.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21If you were a German reconnaissance plane flying over here,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23this part of the Isle of Wight,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26what you would've seen is a number of nondescript buildings -
0:18:26 > 0:18:30an ice cream factory, a hotel, a derelict building over there.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32In actual fact, what this was hiding
0:18:32 > 0:18:35was one of the secret weapons in the war of logistics.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39That old ice cream factory, for example, was hiding a pump,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41while in the basement of the Grand Hotel
0:18:41 > 0:18:44was the entire control and command centre.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Running across the road were a series of fuel pipes
0:18:47 > 0:18:51that ran straight into the sea and all the way to France.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54It was a truly astounding achievement.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58We rightly remember those who landed on the beaches
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and fought their way through Normandy,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04but just as important were the many men and women supplying those troops
0:19:04 > 0:19:08at the front - the plotters, planners and engineers,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10people of tenacity and vision
0:19:10 > 0:19:13whose contribution to victory should never be forgotten.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23On Friday, a series of events in Normandy will be held to
0:19:23 > 0:19:26commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Heads of state, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family
0:19:30 > 0:19:33will be attending memorial ceremonies throughout the day,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37starting with a service at the cemetery in Bayeux.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39Later, there will be an international event
0:19:39 > 0:19:42at the Normandy town of Ouistreham. The day will conclude
0:19:42 > 0:19:46with a march-past of the British veterans at Arromanches,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50by the beach that was known as Gold Beach during D-Day.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Friday's events in Normandy are the official focus
0:19:54 > 0:19:58of commemorations for D-Day, but many veterans have
0:19:58 > 0:20:01their own way of remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04For Robert Coupe from Blackpool,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08honouring his fallen comrades isn't just confined to the past.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11Several times a year, he goes on a long train journey
0:20:11 > 0:20:15to pay his respects to servicemen and women
0:20:15 > 0:20:17who have died in recent conflicts.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22I've been to them all except one,
0:20:22 > 0:20:27and that was because I had another funeral at the same time.
0:20:31 > 0:20:37I used to go and stand, er, at Wootton Bassett
0:20:37 > 0:20:40and then at Brize Norton.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44I think the least I could do is go.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51I get up at five o'clock, and then the taxi comes and picks me up.
0:20:58 > 0:21:04Then I get down to the station, plenty of time to catch the 8.44.
0:21:04 > 0:21:11And the, er, the young manageress behind there
0:21:11 > 0:21:16says, "Robert! Coffee?" "Yes."
0:21:19 > 0:21:21I don't know why she likes me, but...
0:21:21 > 0:21:23HE LAUGHS
0:21:28 > 0:21:32I get in my chair, and off I go.
0:21:38 > 0:21:43And I get off at Piccadilly.
0:21:46 > 0:21:52And away I go then and get off at Oxford.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56It's a hell of a way, is that.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09I was called up at 18 years of age,
0:22:09 > 0:22:14and I served for four and a half years.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18I was attached to the 3rd Division,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and the 3rd British Division
0:22:21 > 0:22:25was the most powerful division in the British Army,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29because they were going in in the first wave
0:22:29 > 0:22:34and they had to crack the defences and get through.
0:22:35 > 0:22:41But we were all seasick. Yeah. Everybody was seasick.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44I didn't care whether I got shot or not,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47so long as I got my feet on to somewhere dry.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49I felt terrible.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56Off the landing craft and into the water,
0:22:56 > 0:23:01and then up to the sandy beach
0:23:01 > 0:23:08and then you'd 150 yards to go to the safety of the sea wall.
0:23:10 > 0:23:17They told you that out of every six men that landed,
0:23:17 > 0:23:22only one would reach the sea wall.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26The other five would be wounded or killed.
0:23:26 > 0:23:32And I was one out of the six. So...
0:23:32 > 0:23:35It's like a lottery.
0:23:35 > 0:23:36You know...
0:23:36 > 0:23:40You had to say to yourself, "Well, these other five
0:23:40 > 0:23:46"are going to get killed or wounded, but I'm going to be all right."
0:23:46 > 0:23:49And in my case, it worked.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54And the other five...
0:23:54 > 0:23:56went down, like, you know.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Aye.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Yeah.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Lost a lot of men there.
0:24:10 > 0:24:11We did.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14And...
0:24:15 > 0:24:17Yeah...
0:24:19 > 0:24:21Yeah.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Yeah.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31TANNOY: '..In a moment's time is Oxford. If you're leaving us here
0:24:31 > 0:24:33'please make sure you get everything ready.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36'Take care when you step from the train. Oxford the next stop.'
0:24:38 > 0:24:43Everybody in this country, from every family,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46there should be at least one of them
0:24:46 > 0:24:54should go back to Normandy or to Brize Norton.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57BELL TOLLS
0:25:11 > 0:25:14If I was lying over there,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16I'd like to think
0:25:16 > 0:25:20someone would come round one day
0:25:20 > 0:25:23and look at my grave and say,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27"Oh, I knew him, yes, I remember him."
0:25:35 > 0:25:41They should be remembered - there's no doubt about that.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Well, for many people this week will be very poignant,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52as they remember the friends and family
0:25:52 > 0:25:55and the roles that they played during D-Day.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Pam and Pat, you were here on the South Coast.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01What was it like just in those last few days before D-Day?
0:26:01 > 0:26:04It was a very tense time, of course.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09We had a tremendous amount of troops in the area.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14We hadn't been allowed to go outside a 20-mile limit
0:26:14 > 0:26:17for, oh, a couple of months before D-Day.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21We knew that it was going to happen,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24but we didn't know where, we didn't know when.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26And we were really longing for it to happen
0:26:26 > 0:26:31because the war would never come to an end if D-Day didn't take place.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Pam, there must have been that great sense of anticipation,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37- of something about to happen? - Oh, yes.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40We simply knew that it was going to happen, but we didn't know when.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43And Pat, what else did you see on the coast?
0:26:43 > 0:26:48Well, because we were on this cliff looking straight over to France,
0:26:48 > 0:26:53of course they'd built all the... a lot of the Mulberry,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56the landing craft and so on, further north.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00And all these had to come in convoys past our cliff
0:27:00 > 0:27:03- and go down towards the West. - So these great floating harbours...
0:27:03 > 0:27:06And we saw these bits of the Mulberry harbour
0:27:06 > 0:27:09that looked like billiard tables upside down,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11and we couldn't think what these things were.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15And of course it was within shelling range of the Germans,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19so they would now and then shell these convoys.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23And we all saw - not on D-Day, I think it was before D-Day -
0:27:23 > 0:27:29we saw them actually hit a small ship and the ship burst into flames.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34And it was in a whole long line of landing craft and other ships,
0:27:34 > 0:27:38and the convoy went on. The orders were obviously, they didn't stop.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41And this ship was just down below our cliff, burning away.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43It was the saddest thing I think we saw.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46Pam and Pat, you were here on the South Coast.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50When did you first realise that D-Day was actually taking place?
0:27:50 > 0:27:55I went on watch on the night of June 5th.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Nobody told us anything for quite a long time,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01although it was quite obvious that something was in the wind.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03And eventually they did tell us.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07And, er... I wanted to stay on watch
0:28:07 > 0:28:10because something was happening and I wanted to be in on it.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13But eventually I had to leave the watch room
0:28:13 > 0:28:16and I then just walked out onto the cliff.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20By this time it was broad daylight and I looked across to Calais,
0:28:20 > 0:28:24and I thought of my future husband,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27who was a prisoner-of-war in Germany.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32And I was thinking, "At last, my dear, we're coming to get you.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37"Every minute somebody is coming nearer, and you will soon be free."
0:28:37 > 0:28:42And after that I went to bed, because I'd been up all night.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46I wasn't on duty that night. I had been the day before.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50But one of our Wren friends rushed round all our cabins
0:28:50 > 0:28:54and said, "It's started! It's started!"
0:28:54 > 0:28:57And so we all got up, and put on our jerseys and things
0:28:57 > 0:29:00because it was about four in the morning.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03And went out on the cliff and there just happened to be
0:29:03 > 0:29:09a convoy going past - these barges and landing craft.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12And I do remember it was a hazy morning, and they sort of
0:29:12 > 0:29:15disappeared into the haze, and then there was just no sound at all.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17You knew it had happened.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19But it was hours before we heard any more.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21And very difficult to get the information.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25And Pam, you were sure as they set off that it was going to succeed?
0:29:25 > 0:29:29Oh, yes - I don't think we had any doubts about it at all.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31You couldn't really think anything else -
0:29:31 > 0:29:35you couldn't possibly be despondent after all this time.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38And what did you think, Christian, as it was all taking place?
0:29:38 > 0:29:40Can you remember how you felt about it?
0:29:40 > 0:29:43I can't ever remember anybody who thought
0:29:43 > 0:29:46we weren't going to win the war, from the very first day.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49We all knew we would win it - especially when Churchill
0:29:49 > 0:29:53kept telling us we were going to, anyway. But we all knew it.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56Christian, Pam, Pat - thank you so much
0:29:56 > 0:29:59for sharing your extraordinary memories with us.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03Now, every day this week Dan Snow is meeting present-day troops
0:30:03 > 0:30:05to find out what D-Day means to them.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07Today, he joins the crew on board
0:30:07 > 0:30:10one of the Royal Navy's largest aircraft carriers
0:30:10 > 0:30:14to explore the vital role the fleet played during the Normandy invasion.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23D-Day was the biggest seaborne invasion in history.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26But before a boot hit the sand of the French beaches,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30it was the job of the Navy to clear a path and get them there.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33- NEWSCASTER:- Under the command of General Eisenhower,
0:30:33 > 0:30:38Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41began landing Allied armies this morning
0:30:41 > 0:30:43on the northern coast of France.
0:30:45 > 0:30:51Nearly 7,000 ships and landing craft assembled in the Channel on D-Day.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53Their mission, To knock out the enemy's defences
0:30:53 > 0:30:56and deliver the Allied troops safely.
0:30:59 > 0:31:0270 years later, the Royal Navy still does the same job.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08I'm flying off the northern coast of Scotland
0:31:08 > 0:31:10to board HMS Illustrious,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13one of the biggest and most important warships in the Navy.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21This 22,000-tonne ship, nicknamed Lusty,
0:31:21 > 0:31:25is the Royal Navy's helicopter and commando carrier.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29MUFFLED RADIO COMMUNICATION
0:31:36 > 0:31:39I want to find out what the actions of the troops
0:31:39 > 0:31:40on D-Day 70 years ago
0:31:40 > 0:31:43mean to the men and women of the modern Royal Navy.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Illustrious is currently playing a key part
0:31:50 > 0:31:52in Exercise Joint Warrior -
0:31:52 > 0:31:55the largest land, sea and air military exercise
0:31:55 > 0:31:57currently going on in Europe.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59There are ten different nations taking part
0:31:59 > 0:32:02and Illustrious is currently right in the middle
0:32:02 > 0:32:05of a task group of 14 different naval vessels.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13The 700 men and women on board are being trained to respond to
0:32:13 > 0:32:16all sorts of wartime scenarios.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18From a fire on board...
0:32:20 > 0:32:22..to a full airborne attack.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24SHOUTED COMMANDS
0:32:26 > 0:32:28SHOUTING
0:32:28 > 0:32:30MUFFLED RADIO COMMUNICATION
0:32:34 > 0:32:37'While the technology and style of warfare has changed
0:32:37 > 0:32:40'dramatically since 1944...
0:32:41 > 0:32:44'..many of the principles are just the same.'
0:32:44 > 0:32:46So you're in charge of the engines on this ship.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48What would your counterpart have been doing
0:32:48 > 0:32:51back on D-Day on those ships off the beach?
0:32:51 > 0:32:53Very much the same - just different technology.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56Whilst the warfare branch fight the war,
0:32:56 > 0:32:58we look after the internals of the ship
0:32:58 > 0:33:00to make sure the command team
0:33:00 > 0:33:02are still able to fight through regardless of damage.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05You have a personal connection to D-Day - what is it?
0:33:05 > 0:33:08My father landed on D-Day itself on Juno Beach -
0:33:08 > 0:33:10he was a Royal Marine.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13The most memorable thing for him
0:33:13 > 0:33:17was finding a Canadian dying on the side of the road,
0:33:17 > 0:33:22and going to talk to him and ease him through the pain.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25From then on, he lit a candle for this one Canadian
0:33:25 > 0:33:28as a representative of all that he went through.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34For most of the young men involved in D-Day,
0:33:34 > 0:33:38it would have been their first time away from home
0:33:38 > 0:33:41and certainly their first taste of action.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49Ben, how long have you been in the Navy?
0:33:49 > 0:33:52I've been in the Navy for just under a year.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54So is this your first sort of big exercise?
0:33:54 > 0:33:56This is my only exercise so far
0:33:56 > 0:33:59that's not been in the training aspect of it all.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01- Is it quite exciting? - Very exciting, it is.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04It's nerve-racking at times, but nevertheless exciting.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07In a battle situation like the ships off D-Day,
0:34:07 > 0:34:09I can imagine guys like you down in the engine rooms,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12down in the bottom of the ship, not knowing what's going on upstairs -
0:34:12 > 0:34:14does that sort of... Is that quite scary?
0:34:14 > 0:34:18Yeah, it is. You're constantly waiting for something to happen,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21for a situation to take place for you to react to.
0:34:21 > 0:34:22Have your experiences here
0:34:22 > 0:34:25made you think about what it must have been like
0:34:25 > 0:34:26for guys in a big battle like D-Day?
0:34:26 > 0:34:28A lot of the time they were pinned down,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32they didn't have a great deal of knowledge about what was happening.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35It must have been so nerve-racking and tense for them.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37But again, they're trained to do it,
0:34:37 > 0:34:40they did it to their best of their ability, and they did it very well.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46The Royal Marines of D-Day made their final assault on the coast
0:34:46 > 0:34:51by boarding landing craft - a difficult and dangerous journey.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59Modern-day marines are more likely to be delivered by helicopter,
0:34:59 > 0:35:02but the nervous wait is just the same.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05So you're in charge of corralling
0:35:05 > 0:35:08a bunch of psyched-up 23-year-old Royal Marines
0:35:08 > 0:35:11and making them stand in these lines to get on the right aircraft.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13That's correct, yeah.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16Would you say that's a job that requires a big voice?
0:35:16 > 0:35:18To be fair, Royal Marines do what they're told.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20It's when you don't tell them what to do
0:35:20 > 0:35:22that they start making it up for themselves.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26Can you imagine what your equivalents were doing on D-Day,
0:35:26 > 0:35:30getting all the guys from those transport vessels down into
0:35:30 > 0:35:33those landing craft - what kind of skills would they have needed?
0:35:33 > 0:35:36I don't know about skills, but I know that previously
0:35:36 > 0:35:39when I've launched from either this platform or other ones
0:35:39 > 0:35:42that you have thoroughly been through your plan.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45And when you're standing there on the lift going up to the aircraft,
0:35:45 > 0:35:47you've got that dry-mouthed anticipation
0:35:47 > 0:35:49about what's going to come next.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52In your mind you're always like going over what you're going to do
0:35:52 > 0:35:53when you get off the aircraft.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Not so much anticipating what you're going to encounter,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59but just making sure you've remembered your part in it,
0:35:59 > 0:36:01and that you're going to do it.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06MUFFLED COMMANDS
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Did your dad, as someone who was a Royal Marine,
0:36:14 > 0:36:16so who understands both the naval and the army side -
0:36:16 > 0:36:19did he have a great respect for what the Navy did in getting them safely
0:36:19 > 0:36:22to that beach and getting them all ashore in an orderly fashion?
0:36:22 > 0:36:24Very much so.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27He fully recognised the importance the Navy had
0:36:27 > 0:36:30of enabling D-Day to happen at all.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34If it wasn't for naval gunfire support ahead of the landings,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36then it just wouldn't have happened.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49One of the young men who was on a Royal Navy ship on D-Day
0:36:49 > 0:36:51was Richard Llewellyn.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54As an 18-year-old midshipman on HMS Ajax,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57one of the first ships to open fire on D-Day,
0:36:57 > 0:37:01he kept a detailed diary recording his impressions of that day.
0:37:10 > 0:37:11"After an anxious forenoon
0:37:11 > 0:37:13"during which the sea was really rough,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16"we have rounded Land's End and are now on our way up the Channel.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18"The waves have gone down and the sun is shining,
0:37:18 > 0:37:23"the coast of Cornwall is visible and the sea is a wonderful blue.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25"One might almost say perfect invasion weather."
0:37:28 > 0:37:34For 60 years after 1944, the only date I remember in the calendar,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37apart from my birthday and Christmas, was June 6th.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40It's a day I remember vividly
0:37:40 > 0:37:43for the noise, the spectacle of the whole thing,
0:37:43 > 0:37:46I mean, it was a gigantic operation.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54The cruiser squadron, the 15th Cruiser Squadron,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58included HMS Ajax and HMS Belfast.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01Belfast was a much heavier cruiser,
0:38:01 > 0:38:06probably nearly 50% heavier and bigger than HMS Ajax.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12HMS Ajax was a sort of... Almost a disposable warship.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20I was 18. I was a midshipman.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23I managed to get a job as the navigator's tanky.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25It was a sort of navigator's assistant.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32A midshipman on board HM ships had to keep what was called a log book.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37A heavily bound book, and you wrote in it each day.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40And that eventually went to the captain who had to sign it
0:38:40 > 0:38:42and so on. So it was an official log,
0:38:42 > 0:38:47without any feelings or sort of dramatic detail in.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49But I kept a little diary,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53which I just scribbled in, just over the D-Day period.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56It's written in very small writing.
0:38:56 > 0:38:57It was actually falling to pieces
0:38:57 > 0:39:00and someone has very kindly put it together.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03"At lunchtime today the conversation
0:39:03 > 0:39:06"ran on lines of who'd be coming out OK.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09"Personally I think this is a bad line for a conversation,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12"but it was really only jokingly.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15"Somehow I have a feeling of confidence that we'll all be OK."
0:39:17 > 0:39:20I remember going down the Channel, at night,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23obviously it was dark, but because it was nearly midsummer,
0:39:23 > 0:39:27there was never total darkness in spite of the weather being overcast.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31And we could see ships all around us on every side.
0:39:33 > 0:39:38We forged ahead, because we had to put the shore batteries
0:39:38 > 0:39:41out of action before the landings could take place.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46"The noise is intense, aircraft bombing shore defences, all ships
0:39:46 > 0:39:50"bombarding, landing craft fitted with rocket launchers blasting off.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52"Amazing scenes of action.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54"The Yanks to the right, us to the left."
0:39:54 > 0:39:56EXPLOSIONS
0:39:59 > 0:40:02It was the noise. The aircraft going overhead.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05There was bombing going on. There was gunfire from everywhere.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09AMERICAN NEWSREEL: The 11,000 planes that opened the path
0:40:09 > 0:40:13through the so-called impregnable Atlantic Wall.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15There was a huge amount going on
0:40:15 > 0:40:18and there were aircraft overhead, hundreds of them.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20NEWSREEL: Meanwhile, at Cherbourg in Normandy,
0:40:20 > 0:40:22the Allied lighting strikes.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25When they were firing at an elevation,
0:40:25 > 0:40:28those barrels were really, really close to an open bridge.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31It was deafening. It was very, very noisy indeed.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36"The whole ship rocked.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39"Another near miss on Ajax port bow. Terrific flash,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42"blinded and doubled up. Thought hit."
0:40:50 > 0:40:52NEWSREEL: And the enemies' Hedgehog defences are ahead.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54This is the supreme moment of invasion.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58This is frontal assault on an entrenched enemy.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00INTENSE GUNFIRE
0:41:06 > 0:41:10The people who landed on the beach on the first wave,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12they were, to my mind, the real heroes
0:41:12 > 0:41:17who really made it possible for the invasion to succeed.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20The rest of us were just the supporting people
0:41:20 > 0:41:24who made that possible. And so...
0:41:24 > 0:41:27People say, "We're so proud of you"
0:41:27 > 0:41:29and I think, "Well, "what are you proud of?"
0:41:29 > 0:41:32I was in the Navy, which I was very lucky to be, obviously,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35and I was just doing my job as far as I was concerned.
0:41:44 > 0:41:45Well, that's it from us for today.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49Tomorrow, with just two days to go before the D-Day anniversary,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53we'll be talking to a nurse who took care of some of the casualties
0:41:53 > 0:41:56who were brought back here from the beaches in France.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01Certainly in the early days of the landings,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04the loss of life and injuries was terrific.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08As one man left, there was always another lined up to come in.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10We never had an empty bed.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15James Holland looks into training and rehearsals for D-Day.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18Often we'd go out at night on a boat
0:42:18 > 0:42:20and come in and hit the beach in the morning.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23And go round firing blanks,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27scaring the schoolkids on their way to school and all that stuff.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29And we hear from a veteran who was one of the first
0:42:29 > 0:42:31to land on the Normandy beaches.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34We expected people to get killed or injured.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36We knew what we were going to go through.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40And...I mean... We were scared, but we had to do it.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48So join us again tomorrow morning
0:42:48 > 0:42:51when I'll be down there in Portsmouth at the Royal Navy Base,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55one of the largest embarkation points for the Normandy invasion.
0:42:55 > 0:42:56Goodbye.