George C. Clark, British Distinguished Service Cross

Lieutenant George C. Clark was awarded the British Distinguished Service Cross. His citation reads: "During the landing of commandos at Quistreham by LCI (S) on June 6, 1944, Lieut. Clark's cutter was detailed to act as escort to LCI(S) HM LCI(S) 524 on clearing the beach after landing troops received a direct hit and blew up in a sheet of flames leaving a mass of blazing Octane petrol on the water.Although his cutter burned Octane petrol, he did not hesitate to steer his craft into the flames and rescue the commanding officer and some of his men."

Frank Draper, Jr.

U.S. Army Technical Sergeant Frank Draper, Jr. and his fellow soldiers of Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment of the "blue and gray" 29th Division landed on the beaches of Normandy early on June 6, 1944 in the largest amphibious assault in the history of man. By the end of the day he was dead, killed in combat near the seaside caves of Vierville-sur-Mer, France. He was 26 years old. His death devastated his family. His father, Frank P. Draper, Sr. of tiny Bedford, Virgina (pop. 3,400), built a large stone monument for the grave of his son Frank Jr. ("Juney") that alludes to the desolation of a broken heart: "We loved you Juney, dearly loved you, but God loved you best." Frank, Sr. was later to take his own life, and now lies buried next to the son he gave for the liberation of France. We can only speculate

how much of the joy went out of Frank, Sr.'s life when he received the news that his son was dead on a beach half-a-world away. The violence itself is one thing, the living with the consequences and repercussions quite another.The defeat of Nazi Germany by Allied military forces is one of the great achievements of modern times, in my opinion. An epic feat of planning, execution, and heroism, D-Day will be remember as long as men and women cherish the past.

“Right on Target,
and Right on Time"

STAFF SERGEANT JAMES H. WALLWORK

(top right) and his co-pilot, John Ainsworth, were both thrown through the perspex nose of the lead glider as they brought it hurtling in from six thousand feet. As Wallwork recalls:

“We removed a couple of fences and arrived as required at, or rather, in the embankment. Made an awful noise but seems afterwards not to have bothered the German sentries who thought perhaps part of a shot-down bomber had landed. Johnnie and I were stunned and pinned under the collapsed cockpit. But the troops had traveled fairly well and got on with it. Exactly one minute later, No. 2 arrived and joined in, followed by No. 3….”

Geoff Barkway (bottom right),

at the controls of No. 3 glider with co-pilot Peter B. Boyle (middle right), hit the target as well — but “the force of the landing catapulted me through the front window and I landed in marshy water.” Once on his feet, Barkway returned to the downed glider and helped extricate Boyle, who was unhurt but pinned down in the wreckage. The men later made their way to Pegasus Bridge, where Barkway was badly hit in the right arm by German fire. (He subsequently lost his arm.)
Thanks to the incredible skill and daring of the twelve glider pilots in the first assault wave, both bridges were captured quickly and held until the arrival of Lord Lovat’s commandos some thirteen hours later.

“Long afterwards we all confessed to feeling rather pleased with ourselves at having pulled it off.” — James Wallwork, Glider Pilot Regiment

Parachuting into Normandy

ERIC "BILL" SYKES

of the 7th (Light Infantry) Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, has never forgotten coming down about twenty miles or so from the intended drop zone:

“Once free of the aircraft, I found myself drifting across a moonlit road into an apple orchard.… For recognition purposes, we had been given a little tin gadget known as a ‘cricket’ [replica, below] which when pressed emitted a clicking sound. The drill was to click once and receive a couple of clicks in return, or vice-versa…. Now was the time for me to locate my partners in crime, the ‘friendlies.’ I clicked my cricket — nothing. I clicked again — nothing. One more try, and a voice which I assumed to be the voice of the platoon sergeant (a man of few, but mostly four-letter, words) boomed across the aisle between the apple trees: ‘If the person who is doing that f*#&ing clicking doesn’t shut up right now, I’m going to come over there and blow his bloody head off.’ And that was a friendly!”

CORPORAL GERALD PAWSON

was to be best man at his sister’s wedding in Leeds, England, on June 6. But as a member of the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RCEME) serving with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, he was locked up with the invasion force from June 2 and could not notify his family. Planes flying overhead on their way to Normandy on the morning of June 6 delivered the message instead. Once Pawson’s family realized he would not be at the wedding, they began the ceremony with a prayer for all of the soldiers, sailors and airmen taking part in the invasion. Pawson still vividly remembers that morning:

“The sea was so rough and we were so seasick, it really didn’t matter what was waiting for us as long as we were getting off that bloody bouncing boat.… Later I remember thinking that I would much rather have been at my little sister’s wedding than in a hole a couple of miles inside France still suffering from the sea trip.”

CHARLES EAGLES NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD

9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, scrambled ashore at Gold Beach and couldn’t wait to get his heavy waders off:

“There were sighs of relief all around. I think it was at this point that we were told to grab some folding paratroop bikes. I tell you, after everything else, that’s all we needed. I must confess I couldn’t see me with my original backpack, a rifle and a bike.… What a comical sight to any German observer…. The order to mount the bikes was duly given, truly a sight for sore eyes as we wobbled all over — some of us had not ridden a bike for years. After two or three hundred yards, all hell broke loose as some shellfire flew around us.… We were showered with debris, and all ended up in the ditches.… Nobody got on their bikes again, we just sort of forgot to take them with us; it was quite funny really, and I can’t recall any NCO, or officer for that matter, mentioning the word ‘bike’ ever again.”

Stanley E Hollis, VC

During the assault on the beaches and the Mont Fleury battery, CSM Hollis's Company Commander noticed that two of the pill boxes had been by-passed and went with CSM Hollis to see that they were clear. When they were 20 yards from the pill box, a machine gun opened fire from the slit. CSM Hollis instantly rushed straight at the pill box, firing his Sten gun. He jumped on top of the pill box, recharged the magazine, threw a grenade in through the door, fired his Sten gun into the box, - killing two Germans and making the remainder prisoners.
He then cleared several Germans from a neighbouring trench. By this action he undoubtedly saved his Company from being fired on heavily from the rear, and enabled them to open the main beach exit.
Later in the same day in the village of Crepon, the Company encountered a field gun and crew armed with Spandaus at 100 yards range. CSM Hollis was put in command of a party to cover an attack on the gun. Hollis pushed right forward to engage the gun with a PIAT from a house at 50 yards range. He was observed by a sniper who fired and grazed his right cheek and at the same moment the gun swung round and fired at point blank range into the house. To avoid the falling masonry CSM Hollis moved his party to an alternative position. Two of the enemy gun crew had, by this time, been killed and the gun was destroyed shortly afterwards. He later found that two of his men had stayed behind in the house and immediately volunteered to get them out. In full view of the enemy, who were continually firing at him, he went forward alone using a Bren gun to distract their attention from the other men. Under cover of his diversion, the two men were able to get back. Wherever fighting was heaviest CSM Hollis appeared, and in the course of a magnificent day's work he displayed the utmost gallantry and on two separate occasions his courage and initiative prevented the enemy from holding up the advance at critical stages.
It was largely through his heroism and resource that the Company's objectives were gained and casualties were not heavier. By his own bravery he saved the lives of many of his men.

Philippe Kieffer

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to an Alsatian family, Philippe Kieffer obtained a diploma at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (School of Higher Business Studies) and became a bank director in New York City.

On 2 September 1939, aged 40, he volunteered for military service. He joined the French Navy, in which he was a reserve officer, a week later. He served in the battleship Courbet, and at the headquarters of the Northern Fleet during the battle of Dunkirk.

He left for London on 19 June 1940 and joined the Forces Navales Françaises Libres on 1 July 1940, the day they were founded

Speaking fluent English, he was asked to serve as a translator and cipher officer. Impressed by the techniques of the British commandos, Kieffer requested authorisation to set up an elite French unit on the same model. In May 1941, he obtained authorisation from Admiral Emile Muselier to found the unit of Commandos Fusiliers-Marins ("sailor-riflemen commando"). They undertook extremely harsh selection and formation in Achnacarry, in Scotland, where a number of candidates died in training. The Commando was attached to the British No.2 Commando (which would become famous for the St. Nazaire Raid, "Operation Chariot", on 28 March 1942).

Kieffer was promoted to lieutenant de vaisseau on 1 July 1942. On 19 August 1942, men of the 1st Company of the Fusiliers-Marins Commandos Battalion were engaged during the Dieppe Raid ("Operation Jubilee").

In 1943, the French commando had grown to two companies and was regularly used for night raids on the shores of France during the preparations for the invasion of Normandy. In 1944, the 180 men of the "1er BFM Commando" were incorporated in the British No.4 Commando (under Lieutenant-Colonel Dawson), in the 1st Brigade (under Brigadier Lord Lovat).

On 6 June 1944, at 08.45, the Bérets verts landed in Ouistreham, Benouville, Amfreville and Bavant (Sword Beach). Kieffer, recently promoted to capitaine de corvette, led his men personally. The Bérets verts suffered 21 killed and 93 wounded. Kieffer himself was almost immediately wounded twice, hit by shrapnel in the leg, but refused evacuation for two days. The French commando disabled a stronghold at Riva-Belia and made contact with airborne troops at Benouville by 13.30. At the end of the day, the Free French troops were 14 kilometres inland.

Kieffer rejoined his unit on 14 June, in time to take part in the breakthrough towards the Seine and Honfleur.

Along with two of his men, he was the first member of the Free French Forces to enter Paris. His 18-year old son, who had recently joined the Maquis, was killed by German troops near Paris at nearly the same time.

By October 1944, the commando Batalion had three companies. Kieffer led it during the attacks on Vlissingen and Walcheren to capture the port of Antwerp. He later took part in raids against occupied Dutch islands.

In 1945, he was nominated for the Consultative Assembly, and started working in the Inter-Allied Forces Headquarters. He was promoted to capitaine de frégate in 1954.

He died in Cormeilles en Parisis on 20 November 1962 after a long illness, and was buried in Grandcamp, Calvados.

Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat

Major John Howard

Major John Howard led the attack by the 6th British Airborne Division on what was to be called Pegasus Bridge. The task given to Howard was to capture the bridge - a vital link over the Caen Canal of the River Orne. His men were the first British troops to land in the D-Day landing of June 6th 1944.

Why was the bridge important? It carried a road that would allow the Germans a better route to re-enforce their troops on the D-Day beaches. Control of the road, and the bridge, would have greatly hindered any such attempts. Also, the simple presence of Howard's men at the bridge and surrounding areas would have caused confusion for the Germans. The road was also targeted by the Allies to be used as a supply route for the 6th Airborne Division that had landed near Caen - and needed to be supplied by equipment landed on the D-Day beaches.

Howard led men from D Company, 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckingham Light Infantry. Transported by three Horsa gliders towed by Halifax bombers, they were released at 8,000 feet over the Normandy coast and landed just a few meters from one another at 00.16 on June 6th, 1944. Each glider carried 28 men - all from the 6th Airborne Division. Howard's planning for the attack had been meticulous - but it had been greatly aided as a result of information given to the French Resistance by the owners of a local café - the Gondrée family. As a result of this information, Howard and his men knew where the Germans had placed their machine guns etc. The bridge was swiftly taken (by 00.26 - 10 minutes after the landings) and Howard started setting up his defences for the expected German attack.

At 02.10, men from the 21st Panzer Division attacked. By this time, Howard had been reinforced by troops who had landed by parachute in the area of the bridge. The German attack was repulsed.

On July 16th 1944, Howard was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and he was awarded the Croix de Guerre avec Palme in 1954 in recognition of his leadership during the attack on Pegasus Bridge. The road that crossed the old bridge (and its recent replacement) has been renamed 'Rue Major John Howard' in his honour.

In 1946, Howard was invalided out of the army - the result of injuries sustained in a car crash. He was later to join the Ministry of Agriculture.

In the film "The Longest Day", the part of John Howard was played by Richard Todd - who had jumped with the 6th Airborne Division on D-Day.

Major John Howard, DSO, died in 1999 aged 86.

Lieutenant H D 'Den' Brotheridge

Lieutenant H D 'Den' Brotheridge 2nd ( Airborne ) Bn. The Oxford and Bucks. Light Infantry. The first British soldier killed in action on 'D' Day 6th June 1944 Pegasus Bridge, Normandy, France.