D-Day - 24th Lancers

My uncle Rhys was a driver/mechanic in Sherman tanks with 24th Lancers on D-Day and his memoirs of his time liberating Europe were translated from Welsh to English by my uncle Arthur who also served in tanks (No.3 Squadron, 2nd (Armoured Reconnaissance) Battalion, Welsh Guards - landed a couple of days after D-Day and was wounded in the battle to take Caen). 

"One day the heavy guns of the Navy were enough to deafen anyone and the air was filled with aircraft in their thousands going back and forth. By two o'clock the ship had gone as near the shore as she could and we waited while a large raft came alongside and started loading. The lorries first of all, then the tanks. We drove slowly on to the barge in case it capsized. The raft was so long the helmsman had great difficulty in keeping it heading for the shore, but land was slowly getting nearer. The co-driver and I were sealed in and eventually the order came "Start up, Taff" and into the water we went and slowly drove on to dry land. I believe our tank was the first of our regiment to land. We landed at 6.30 on June 6th. Our D-Day had arrived!

What was the reaction? Fear certainly with the heart pounding away. The bodies floating in the sea were proof that this was no child's play, but you had to hide your fears and listen carefully to the tank commander's directions as we were still under seal and could see very little ourselves. The vision through the periscope was minimal and we had to rely on someone who could see what was going on. I saw a row of men coming to meet us with their hands on their heads - these were the first POWs for me to see. We went out of the village into a large field to wait for the regiment to assemble. In the next field a cow lay feet up to show that everything was endangered here."

Rhys made it through to the end of the war returning to civilian life. Many of his comrades were not so fortunate...