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This story was submitted to the People’s war site by Forbes Inglis on behalf of Andrew Ross and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I was in the RAOC and it was our job to organise supplies and control the stores.

We landed in Normandy on D Day plus three with a three-ton Bedford that had to be lifted off a big troopship onto a landing craft.

The ship I was on was an American one and the Yanks weren’t paying attention. We were in the middle of a minefield and heading the wrong way.

On the shore, they could see what was happening and they were shouting, “Stop,” through loud hailers at us. Eventually the ship stopped and the anchor struck. We couldn’t move and had to stay there all night with the Germans bombing us.

Our job was to keep the troops on the move and we had lorries with gearboxes and other vehicle supplies. When we finally got ashore we made our way through Belgium and Holland to the Ardennes and then up again to the north of Hanover.

I will be 92 on the 22nd of June 2005. The funny thing is my son lives in Germany now and I visit him often. When they ask me if I have been to Germany before I tell them I was here in 1945!

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