Ex-soldier stands tall to commemorate D-Day

But the gesture meant a great deal to ex-soldier Barrie Stevens, of Hucknall's Aldercar Residential Care Home.

As the Dispatch exclusively reported last week, Barrie (67) was unhappy that no ceremony was organised in Hucknall to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

Barrie, who previously served with the 17th-21st Lancers, felt that the stand he took was on behalf of ex-service personnel all over the town.

Two other Aldercar residents, Herbert Deakin (85), a D-Day veteran, and Mary Meakin (72), whose grandfather served in World War One, shared his views about the lack of a Hucknall commemoration.

Since then, the three have been contacted by the Bulwell-based South Notts Hussars Territorial Army regiment and invited to a Nottingham ceremony on Sunday.

There has also been an invitation to an old comrades' celebration at Oakleigh Lodge Social Club in Bulwell tonight.

Band take part in musical pageant

HEROES who risked their lives on D-Day will receive a rousing musical tribute tomorrow when the Newstead Youth Band make their competitive debut.

The young musicians are taking part in the first-ever 'Bands On Parade' event in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, which is being partly organised by Newstead Welfare Band as a feature of Kirkby's commemoration of the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

The focus is on fun but Newstead Youth Band will be one of eight brass groups competing for a share of 1,500 in prize money.

The locals will compete against Long Eaton and Shirland at 3 pm with each band playing a march and another piece on a temporary stage outside Kirkby Festival Hall.

At 4 pm, the award-winning Newstead Welfare Band will join Kirkby Welfare Band to lead a parade through the town centre before five other bands take to the stage for a senior competition.

Each band (Blidworth, Carlton, Ireland Colliery, Long Eaton and Shirland Welfare) will march through the town before performing a 20-minute concert, including at least one piece from the 1940s. An air-raid siren will be used to indicate the start of each band's march.

The family event, which is free, will feature real ale and refreshments in the Festival Hall where there will also be the chance to try out brass instruments.

Other attractions are street entertainers, a prize-draw and a 'spot the hidden instrument' competition in shop windows.

The event is also being organised by Kirkby Rotary Club and Kirkby Welfare Band.

A Newstead Welfare Band spokesman said: "We're hoping to bring both fun and spectacle because competitions of this type have become popular with bands and audiences over recent years. However we think our contest has a unique format with bands being judged separately on the march and in concert."

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!....

THREE D-Day veterans attended a special Dispatch district event to mark the 60th anniversary of the Normandy Landings.

They were Roland Clarke and Ben Beilby, who were in Coastal Forces, and John Wass, who served in a destroyer flotilla.

The trio were at a nostalgia night at Papplewick and Linby Village Hall, incorporating a 'Happy Days' music show of 1940s entertainment.

Coastal Forces is a branch of the Royal Navy which was in the vanguard of the assault on the Normandy beaches, marking the route for the great mass of shipping to follow.

Mr Clarke (84), of Perlethorpe Drive, Hucknall, was mentioned in despatches for 'courage at sea'.

One June 5 – the day before the invasion – he was serving as a seaman gunner on Motor Torpedo Boat 453.

This was off Gold Beach and Arromanches with the role of keeping enemy shipping coming from the west into the landing area.

Towards midnight, paratroopers could be seen descending and most likely making for the Orme bridges.

"As dawn came," said Mr Clarke, "our capital ships started pounding enemy positions ashore. Swarms of destroyers drew nearer and Allied aircraft released their deadly loads.

"In deteriorating weather, the flat-bottomed landing craft were knocked about quite a bit.

"Later that morning, we were ordered to lay off Omaha Beach to help the Americans, who were having trouble getting away. I was on the 6lb gun forward and I had plenty of targets.

"As night came, I had more targets to choose from in the shape of the E-boats coming in the darkeness, trying to get tjhrough to the main landing fleet.

"On D-Day plus five, we were involved in 14 separate actions as wave after wave of E-boats came to our patrol area. Some were turned back, some never got back."

Mr Wass (80) lives in the Nottinghamshire village of Gonalston but has strong Hucknall links.

He s best known for the part he played in sinking the mighty German battleship, the Scharnhorst, during World War Two.

But he was in a destroyer which was diverted from a convoy to Russia as part of a flotilla taking part in the D-Day invasion.

Two of the ships in the flotilla, the Svenner and the Swift, were sunk and there is a memorial to them on Sword Beach.

Mr Wass's ship was mined and, having returned to Porsmouth for repairs, it went back carrying a VIP – Admiral Harold Stark, of the American Naval Forces.

Two days after the invasion, Mr Wass had his first sight of a German doodlebug.

"I thought it was a small plane on fire," he said. "It crashed into the sea and we reported it to the authorities."

The anniversary social evening was organised by the Papplewick and Linby branch of the Royal British Legion.

A supper served during the evening consisted of bangers and mash, mushy peas and onion gravy, followed by jam roly-poly and custard.