To mark the 75th Anniversary Commemorations of VE Day, we spoke with a few of the veterans we know about their experiences on 8th May 1945 and hear their advice for future generations.

Len landed on Gold Beach late on D-Day. As a despatch rider, his job was to carry messages between units and to escort columns of vehicles to get them to their destination.

In mid-July, he was leading a column of lorries containing ammunition to the front line. As he reached the crossroads behind him in the photograph, he stopped to get his bearings. Beside the road, a sign read ‘Dust Kills’, a warning to take care not to kick up any dust whilst driving because if it were to be spotted by the Germans it would make you an immediate target. But it was a very dry time of year and trying to move a column of lorries around without creating any kind of telltale sign was a near impossibility. Unbeknownst to Len, the Germans had the crossroads marked as a target for their artillery and they were watching them.

Suddenly, a shell landed just yards away from them. Len knew it was a ranging shell and the next one wouldn’t miss. They had to move at once.

He got the convoy moving away from the crossroads as quickly as he could but it was too late. Another shell came over and this time hit one of the trucks, causing all the ammunition it was carrying to go off. The resulting explosion was enormous.

Len was badly wounded. He has no idea how long it was until someone got to him or what happened in the aftermath, as he didn’t regain consciousness until he was in a casualty clearing station about ten kilometres back from the crossroads. When he eventually came round, he saw a woman all in white and thought he was facing an angel. The nurse he had seen offered him a cigarette, and he realised then he wasn’t dead ‘because I knew you couldn’t smoke in heaven!’

Len awoke to find he was temporarily deafened by the blast and he had to have shrapnel removed from his spine.

However, after just six weeks recovery time he rejoined his unit to take part in the liberation of Brussels.

*Please note this episode may contain some explicit language / content, parental guidance advised.*

Ep 19 - Part One: Talking the Day The Devils Dropped In - The 6th Airborne Division in Normandy 1944 with Neil Barber

WW2 Nation PodcastBy WW2 NationOct 31, 2019