D-Day and Juno Beach

It wasn't too long before we were in action. We didn't go over, when we left our, our premises there, at Tunbridge, just north of (Royal) Tunbridge Wells, we went into London, and we got on the Thames and we picked up landing crafts there, and we went around the straits of Dover. And when we went around the straits of Dover, of course this was a diversion as far as the, you know, the Germans thought we were still coming across that way. But they were putting smoke screens up all the time and we were hugging the coast right beside the straits of Dover. And we were just, we were just there at that time, and I was below deck, and all of a sudden the guns on the, on the ship opened up and I rushed up to find out what was going on. But it was another buzz bomb going over and they were trying to shoot it down. But we went on, and to, approximately, about South Hampton then we went straight across. We were fortunate when we got there because they had, had these, landing, well I, I don't know what you would call them, but we had a dry landing. We went right off the boat right onto these landing barges and...

Interviewer: Were they the Mulberry Harbours?

Yeah, that's what it, that's the word, yeah, yeah, and that brought us right up onto, onto the shore. And that first day, we drove around Juno Beach, and we drove around about half an hour, and we came to a spot and they said, "Okay, we are gonna stay here for the night." So they said to, "You've got to dig foxholes," so I am busy digging this foxhole, and it is very difficult because it's, there's roots and everything. And they said, "No you shouldn't be digging here this is amongst the trees. And if a shell hits the trees it spreads out." So I am dog tired so I get a stretcher out of the back of the truck and I push it under the truck and I, I go to sleep. And I wake up the next morning and I look up from where I am, and I'm, directly above my head is the gas tank. And if a shell had hit that it was goodbye John.