Commonwealth Cemetery Hermanville Sur Mer A Poignant visit at this time of year. Together with the family of Tim Maton I visited the Commonwealth Cemetery at Hermanville sur Mer. We went to remember Royal Marine G.A. Precious aged 19yrs who was killed on SWORD Beach on D-Day. Tim's father, Oswald Maton, was a Lieutenant in the Royal Marines. On D-Day he commanded Landing Craft 1216. His mission was to [...]
Lt Douglas Goddard Royal Artillery (later Major Douglas Goddard, MBE, FCIS.) An exceptional bespoke tour during October 2024. Nigel and Mark Goddard followed in the footsteps of their father/grandfather Lt Douglas Goddard Royal Artllery (later Major Douglas Goddard, MBE, FCIS.). Douglas was with 220 Battery Royal Artillery attached to 43rd Wessex Division. We followed him from his landing on JUNO Beach on 23rd June to the battles for Hill [...]
US Normandy Cemetery, Omaha Beach A very special visit to the U.S. Normandy Cemetery at OMAHA Beach. I accompanied Aileen Killen to visit the grave of her uncle Warren J McCauley, who was killed near Montebourg on 12th June 1944.
The Battle of Mortain : Operation Luttich. "Time spent in recconaissance is seldom wasted" In March 2024 I spent a special day walking the fields and villages of St Barthelemy, Neufbourg & Mortain to refresh and prepare for an upcoming tour of Operation Cobra and the Falaise Pocket. On 25th July 1944, The U.S. Operation Cobra finally broke through German resistance in their sector between Coutances and St Lo [...]
UNESCO World Poetry Day 21st March 2024. The poem Chanson d' Automne by Paul Verlaine is one of the best known in French Literature. It is included in Verlaine's first collection, Poemes saturniens, published in 1866. The opening lines of the poem are well known for being a coded message sent by the BBC in June 1944 on behalf of the Special Operations Executive to French resistance Groups alerting them that the invasion of France [...]
A heroic stand by 182 paratroopers of 3rd Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. 17 of whom along with 26 French civilians were murdered by 17th SS Panzergrenadiers. During the night of 5th-6th June 1944 American paratroopers jumping into Normandy were scattered about the countryside missing their intended drop zones. Over 150 of them landed in the Carentan Marshes up to 18 miles South East of their target at Amfreville. [...]
The Arctic Convoys 1941-45 A Campaign Report by Malcolm Clough (B.A. Hons War Studies) Introduction Some of the hardest fought naval actions of the Second World War took place in the northerly waters of the world – The Arctic Ocean. Thrown together as unlikely allies, between 1941 and 1945 the British and Americans sent the Soviet Union £500,000,000 worth of vital weapons, transport and ammunition.[1] The cost to the Western allies was high: 18 [...]
On Thursday 17th August I spent a special day with James Hale and his family from Seattle & California. James is a professional musician who was granted permission by the American Battle Monuments Commision to play Taps live at Normandy American Cemetery during the flag lowering ceremony at the end of the day. A goosebumps moment. Thank you Jim. The tune is a variation of an earlier bugle call known as the "Scott Tattoo", which [...]
On D-Day, as part of the Allied invasion of Normandy, a group of brave soldiers from the United States Army Rangers embarked on a daring mission. Their objective was to scale the treacherous cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, a fortified German position overlooking the beaches of Omaha and Utah. This daring assault would become one of the most iconic moments of D-Day. The Objective: Pointe du Hoc presented a [...]
1st Battalion 507th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division. 'Le Maison Timmes', Amfreville. Staff Sergeant Donald E Bosworth 1st Battalion 507th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division. I have just spent three splendid days in the company of Jeff and Kyle Bosworth from California USA as we followed in the footsteps of their father and grandfather Staff Sergeant Donald E Bosworth 1st Battalion 507th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division. S/Sgt Bosworth parachuted into Normandy during [...]
