A Teenagers Memories of the Build-Up to D-Day

My Memories Of D-Day by T R Austin (traone@ylongoed.fsnet.co.uk)

My pal, Leslie and I had heard that the Yanks were at Frampton-on-Severn and so that Sunday in June we set off on our bikes to cover the seven miles or so to the
delightful Gloucestershire village that boasts the largest village green in England
We rounded the final bend onto the green, normally a flat expanse of grass stretching broadly away from a central road, and nearly fell of our bikes in wonder.
The entire green was crammed with US military vehicles all decorated with the white recognition star of the invasion force.
Between the vehicles small tents were pitched and in and around them were the soldiers. We were thirteen yeas old and some of them were only a few years older.
We were soon laden with chewing gum and other goodies such as instant coffee, unknown then in England, and which, truth to tell, was one of our motivations for the trip..
Boys are always interested in guns and we were no execption. One soldier unloaded his pistol and demonstrated how to take it apart. A request for some bullets as a souvenir was firmly rejected
We stayed with those young men most of the day, but when we returned a week later hoping for a repeat performance, the Green was empty with only a few empty ration packs blowing about in the wind.
It was only many years later that the thought that some of those young men, our hosts for a day on that tranquil English village green perished on Omaha beach

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.