Drone_pilot
01-06-04, 10:56
Sergeant Bernard Morgan was 20 years old in 1944 and worked in the RAF as a code and cypher operator responsible for directing aircraft to where they were needed for immediate action.
On D-Day he watched from a landing ship constantly under fire at anchor off shore as the first waves of troops went into battle.
Many of them did not make it, and he saw his first dead bodies.
The night before the D-day landings, we were anchored off the Isle of Wight, on a Landing Ship Tank (LST). On the way we had a football match - the army against the RAF.
We weren't told what we were going to do until we were mid-channel.
The officers gave us a handbook of France, with French phrases telling us how to treat French people, and phrases we could use when we wanted to get food.
We didn't really sense the danger. As a young man you're naive, you have no fear.
But at one point I remember a padre came round and conducted a very solemn church service. It was an appropriate hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers.
BBC Read More (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3736351.stm)
On D-Day he watched from a landing ship constantly under fire at anchor off shore as the first waves of troops went into battle.
Many of them did not make it, and he saw his first dead bodies.
The night before the D-day landings, we were anchored off the Isle of Wight, on a Landing Ship Tank (LST). On the way we had a football match - the army against the RAF.
We weren't told what we were going to do until we were mid-channel.
The officers gave us a handbook of France, with French phrases telling us how to treat French people, and phrases we could use when we wanted to get food.
We didn't really sense the danger. As a young man you're naive, you have no fear.
But at one point I remember a padre came round and conducted a very solemn church service. It was an appropriate hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers.
BBC Read More (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3736351.stm)