Private Benstead , No 14312245

Memories of D Day

I was only 20 years old on D Day. They called it the Longest Day and I shall never forget that very sad day. Each June, I look out of my window and see the blossoms on the trees. France was very like England. I was Private Benstead, No 14312245, In the South Lancs Regiment. I was stationed at Berwick On Tweed and then we moved down to Holt in Norfolk, before being sent to Ickworth Park near Bury St Edmunds. I thought "Now is my chance to get some extra leave." My wife was very worried about me at the time as she didn't know where I was. One day she was taking a walk in Ickworth Park late in the afternoon, when she saw something moving in the trees. It wasn't soldiers at all- it was a lot of deer but my wife didn't stop long, she soon made off!

They then sent us to a camp "Somewhere in England. It put me in mind of a Concentration Camp as it was surrounded with barbed wire. We had plenty of entertainment but nobody knew what was going to happen. We were shut out from the whole world and sworn to secrecy at that time. One afternoon we were all called together in the Big Tent and told "The waiting is over".. D-Day , hoped for and at the same time feared, was no longer a rumour. The greatest invasion of all time was about to begin. When we heard this, I dont mind telling you, we all got the wind up. In the afternoon we were taken in trucks to Little Haven in North Wales. As we jumped out of these trucks we saw those huge landing craft. They told us they were American craft. As we got on to these craft the sailors were quite good to us. We had plenty to eat. We didn't know what was going on. The sea was very rough. I had never been on a boat before and I had never been to War before. Our hearts were very heavy and I shall never forget that June night. All of a sudden we had the order to push off. Yes, the time had come at last. We pushed off at midnight and the sea was very rough going over. They told us it would be dawn when we hit the Normandy Beach Head, and that it would be every man for himself- and that was quite true.

We arrived about 20 past 7 and they let us down on a ramp at the side of the landing craft. As we came down Gerry was hitting quite alot of us boys. I remember we had to catch hold of a rope to wade ashore. I noticed that as we came down this ramp there was a landing craft sinking at the side of us. It had the top knocked off. as I was making my way through to the beach, I just managed to put my head down away from this Gerry machine gun fire. I heard a shout behind me and looked round quick. We weren't supposed to look behind us: it didn't matter what happened to your other mates. He called out to me; "Benny,save me" .I was just about to pull him from drowning in the sea. Poor boy, I felt very sorry for him, he was badly wounded in his leg and ripped up with machine gun bullets. I do hope he was brought back safely.

As I got to the end of the beach, I came face to face with a Gerry prisoner who was helping us boys to come ashore. He was holding the ropes and seemed very happy to have been captured. We heard afterwards he was a White Russian. Gerries were running with their hands up.

I forgot to mention that when we were going over, we were struck with seasickness and when I arrived I felt pretty bad. We were very glad to get off the landing craft. We had to move off the beach. I saw a dead Gerry being carried away on a stretcher. (He had had his day.) A little further up the beach , I saw one of our boys, he was dead; I thought to myself "I'm going to catch it soon" , but I didn't that day. There were Military Policemen near the beach telling us what to do. I was told to jump into the Gerry trench which I soon did. I was very glad to get my head down to rest after that journey in that landing craft. As soon as I was in my trench, I decided I would make some tea. So I took out my Tommy Cooker, put it in the bottom of the trench, took out a cube and lit up, found a tea cube and put it in my mess tin. I was just about to mix the tea cube when ,all of a sudden, a shell fell short, up went the sand in my trench and knocked my Tommy cooker over- that was my tea gone!

We stayed there for a little while then they took us to an apple orchard. The orchard looked lovely, the blossom smelt lovely and there was also honeysuckle and orange blossom. We were dug in near an old farmhouse. I shall never forget that very warm June afternoon. We'd been shelled a number of times. We decided to take a rest. We didn't take off our clothes for three weeks but we changed them when we went back to a Rest Camp. While we were in the apple orchard we lay in our trench one afternoon taking it easy. I remember there were two boys in the next trench, Pte Dean, who was only 18, was reading some books his sister had sent him. All of a sudden I heard this shell coming over; it fell short and I just managed to duck my head down in the nick of time. It killed this young soldier in the trench next to me. His mate was very upset at that time: he never got a scratch on him. How lucky can you be. We had to lift this boy out of his trench and lay him against a tree ready to be picked up by the stretcher bearers. Perhaps someday I will manage to visit his grave..

We had to crawl through cornfields a number of times. I remember we had to look for a wounded Bren Gunner and we found him alright sitting under a tree but his foot was nearly blown off. He was very pleased we saved his life. That evening Gerry had turned the Tiger tank on them and they had fled leaving the Bren gunner alone badly wounded. We lost another of our Bren gunners while I was out there. I was with him in a wood near Caen. We had to put our attack in about 3 O'clock in the afternoon. We all had some rum to sip: i thought this is my lot now. I remember we had to crawl along by these trees and then make a mad dash to this wood. As I was running to it I ran past one of our men who had been killed. At the end of the wood, what I had to do was to help my Bren gunner pull his Bren gun up. As we lay there the gerries opened up on us. The bullets were hitting the trees behind us and we were getting wounded. My Bren gunner I shall never forget as long as I live. He was a very brave soldier; he took his gun, stood up so brave and let them have it, right into the Gerry strongpoint. I thought to myself "I hope he knocks them out" but as he was firing he was shot and fell with his head down. I was lying behind him waiting to see what would happen. There was another of my mates behind me; I looked at him and thought he was dead as well- he had a great big cut across his forehead. I didn't know what to do for the best as he was in a pretty bad way. I decided to stand up to see what was going on. All of a sudden I was hit in my leg by a piece of shrapnel. It was bleeding pretty bad. I couldn't see many of my mates about. I expect they were lying at the ready with their rifles at the alert. I thought to myself; "What shall I do? it's either got to be me or the Gerry. So I went forward and noticed Pte Taylor, the Bren gunner, was dead; so I took the Bren gun off him and tried to do my best to keep up the covering fire as best I could. As I was firing I was hit in both arms. My left arm was badly hurt but I didn't seem to care that afternoon what happened to me after I saw the Bren gunner fall before my very eyes. Somebody had been watching us boys - our Corporal. He came across to see me and Knew I was in a bad way. He told me " Lay still. Don't worry, you'll be picked up. You've done your share today. Give me that Bren gun." He had seen what happened and said he would recommend me for the Military Medal when I got to Caen. I don't think I deserved that: I think the Bren gunner who I was with should have had that.

I forgot to mention that when I was wounded in the wood, they picked me up and took me in a Tent where we all had labels put on us. General Montgomery should have shaken hands with us but I missed seeing him which I thought was a shame. I sailed on a hospital ship and landed at Southampton. I spent some time in Bradford Hospital. We had plenty of entertainment while I was up there. The nurses were very kind to us. I was discharged from Hospital on May 24th 1945.

This is a true story of what happened to me after D-Day. Since then I have been very happy and enjoy taking part in Pantomimes in the village ( Stow-cum- Quy, Cambs )

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