6th June – Friday - D-Day 70th Anniversary

70 years ago today my father James William Proud came to France in a landing craft as part of the D-Day landings.  He was 19 years old and this was his first experience of war.  He had spent the beginning of the war as a member of the Home Guard (a version of private Pyke from Dad’s Army) with his father, my granddad, who had served in the first world war.  They were armed with brush handles and spent many hours on Hambledon hill in Hapton, nr Burnley watching out for the enemy.

His father obviously did not encourage him to join up as he himself had experienced war and was in no hurry for his son to experience it.  But Jim being Jim was desperate to join as did so as soon as he reached 18 years old.  He then spent months in the south of England and at various camps learning to be a soldier, and what no one knew, waiting for D-Day.  He spoke of time learning bridge building with the Royal Engineers and did various courses including first aid. 

The younger photo was taken at a local photographers on his first leave after basic training.  His mum could not believe how he had grown in the 12 weeks he had been away.  The truth was it was the first time in his life he had eaten 3 meals a day, even the canteen staff commented how much bread he was able to shift.  Many Lancashire families were very poor and his family were no exception.

He said the landing craft were very rocky and many of the men were sick, he was actually glad to get off.  He did not go into great detail of what he saw, we can only image the horror.  He landed at Sword beach and from there they progressed quickly to Caen, which was a major bridging point which needed to be captured.  Of the 300 men in his original regiment the South Staffordshires, the 30 remaining were transferred to the Gordon Highlanders, with whom he spent the rest of the war.  He was given a field promotion to Corporal during this time.

However traumatic these times were he did look back on them as some of the best of his life and made a life long friend in Ken O’Brien who he was in touch with all their lives.  He went onto Palestine after the war where he learned to drive a motor bike and then Heavy Goods Vehicles, which gave him his livelihood for most of the rest of his working life.

As many of you know, he was a challenging older person, but Mick always said ‘Who are we to tell him what to do, after what he went through he can please himself’. 

Jim Proud – 1925 to 2010