Frederick Jonathan Daniels - memories of D-Day landings and Burma

D-Day, 6th June 1944, was the day after my father's 18th birthday. My father was a radio operator on the USS Augusta. The American General Bradley was on this ship . Many men had been lost earlier that day on Omaha Beach, so as more men were needed, my father was issued with an American uniform and joined the men clambering down the netting into the landing craft. He said climbing down the netting with heavy equipment on his back was really hard. They had to wade the last part onto the beach. Their orders were "to get off the beach as fast as they could , or they would be dead".

What my father remembers most of that day on the beach was the deafening noise of the guns firing from the ship and just running as fast as possible across the beach to gain shelter of the seawall.He never spoke about the bodies in the water and on the beach. On reaching the seawall they then had to climb up a steep slope . He remained with the American army in Normandy for about 2 weeks until the Navy tracked him down and he was recalled to the UK. He remembers General Bradley shaking the hands of all the men, including my father. When he left the Americans gave him a large case of tinned meat, ham, etc., to take back to his family. He returned his American uniform but kept his boots as British boots were not very good.

After returning to the UK he was sent out to Burma where experienced radio operators were needed in the field. He recalled a time out there when the ship he was on was targeted by a Japanese Kamakazi pilot. they were saved by the ship's gunner shooting him down. The sights he saw in Burma of POWs affected him so much that he would never forgive the Japanese.