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Cyril Haworth: We’d been delayed for one day in as much as Eisenhower having listened
to the weather forecast decided that the channel gales were too severe, so d-day was delayed
from the 5 to the 6. We sailed across, we landed mid-morning on Gold beach which is
quite close to Arromanches, went ashore there, we were supported by naval vessels out in
the bay and that was probably one of the most unpleasant days of my life. Well, unfortunately
we had to stay at Rouen 60 miles away, because all accommodation had already been booked
by the Canadians Americans two or three four years ago. We stayed there each day we traveled
60 miles up to the battlefield area and 60 miles back at night. It was a day that we
did what we wanted to do, I went to see places that we decided on going, the things like
the well which supplied all the drinking water to British and Canadian forces for the whole
of June 1944, when all other wells were suspect poisoning. We saw churches where most of us
had been involved in, one church where I personally arranged for the thanksgiving service after
a gang of our lads cleared up the mess left by a battle ship shell knocking the roof down.
And we generally enjoyed the day. It was absolute God send, there’s no way from our depleted finances we could
have managed it on our own, it’s something we all wanted to do, a number of us have been
being back in the past, five years ago, but it’s the sort of visit that you want to
pay, I wouldn’t say often, well you don’t want to stop going, there’s so much to remember
and the Lottery enabled us to do it.