D-Day Remembered: Ted Cordery, HMS Belfast

Ted Cordery: “And I felt so sorry for those men on those landing craft because they were loaded up with guns and, and material packs, you know, whatever, by the army do they load their men up, don’t they? 

And they, probably a lot of them were seasick. And then they have a bumpy because the flat bottom, flat bottom was always like this, you know, that's why they have a hull, isn't it, so you can cut through the water. And then I was looking at them as we were passing them and I thought to myself, you know, some of those men, but they're probably having a terrible time now and when they’re dropped off, they’ve got to start fighting. It’s asking a lot, isn't it? It’s asking a lot, I think so, you know and because so many of them didn't, didn't make it because they were dropped too far from the land, but for whatever reason, the ship, the landing craft would drop its kedge anchor so it could pull itself off, but some of them never got right into land when the, the troops broke out, went straight into deep water and drowned.  

Then we will land in a short afternoon, and I must tell you this, I was alone on the beach and a Frenchman came by an elderly man because I was only 20, an elderly man, and he spat at me. He was on a cycle, and I thought myself, you old...I won't tell you what I said. So, got hold of him and my POC go, so course I let him go because I was going to pull him off his cycle and throw it in the sea, that’s what I intended to do. 

Anyway, he called me back. This man went on and because I started to think, what has he got to thank me for when I might have blown his blooming house apart? You see, you know, and I, I thought I thought to myself, but I'm, I'm sorry I took that attitude to him because what has he got to thank us for because if he lived in that area, that area was shattered with bombs and shells, and not to mention the RAF as well, you know, so there are things I think of sometimes.”