Story: John Mellor | Photo: Richard Hanson
On 6th June 1944 the Allied Forces of World War II began their invasion of the Normandy beaches, the ‘D Day’ Landings. The largest military operation in history saw hundreds of thousands of troops being ferried across the English Channel from Southern England to Northern France in a well planned and highly organised operation. Among them was Burngreave resident Ken Riley, one of only a handful of Veterans of the Normandy Landings still living in Sheffield.
Ken received his call-up papers early in 1943 when he was 18, having been in the ARP during the Sheffield blitz in 1940, keeping a lookout for incendiary bombs on night watch. Ken had attended All Saints’ School, leaving at the age of 14 to start work. He continued studying at night school for the National Certificate of Engineering. This experience enabled him to train as a radio operator in the Royal Armoured Corps and it was in this capacity that he landed on Juno Beach on 16th June 1944. Ken says of this event:
“We were told that we would arrive at high tide and would have to disembark in 6 feet of water. This meant that the underside of the tank had to be carefully sealed to prevent sea water getting in, a job which took several hours. However, on arrival the skipper of the landing craft decided to wait until we could disembark directly onto the beach, so our efforts had not been necessary.”
Ken told me of two incidents that nearly cost him his life:
“Our division had fought its way through Northern France to the Belgian border where we experienced a very cold winter in the Ardennes (1944-45). We were the leading tank in a column en route for Arnhem when we were attacked by a German Panzer Tank. Fortunately our gunner was pointing our gun at a slight angle, causing the shell to be deflected with little damage to the tank. Had the gun been pointing directly ahead the shell would have come straight through the turret where I was sitting."
“On reaching the Dutch-German border we stopped for the night on the edge of a forest. For protection we dug a trench under the tank, between the tracks, and the 5 members of our tank crew stayed there overnight. In the morning, just as I was brewing up 5 mugs of tea on a petrol stove, the Germans started firing at us from the forest. The other 4 members of the crew quickly got under the tank but my tea-making duties delayed me. The shell landed 5 feet away and two flying pieces of shrapnel hit me, one in the left leg and the other in the back. Fortunately the ground was soft from heavy rain and this absorbed much of the impact; had the ground been dry and hard the explosion would almost certainly have killed me.”
After being wounded, Ken was taken to a field hospital and then to Brussels General Hospital before being repatriated to continue his recuperation. Ken commented:
“I would have liked to make the Army my career but this was not possible on health grounds.”
I asked Ken what was the worst thing about the war. He said, “Seeing all the avoidable death and destruction – war is a fool’s game.” I then asked if there was anything good that he could say about the war. He replied, “The total comradeship, sharing and risking our lives together, sharing our last cigarette. This is something I haven’t found since returning to ‘civvy’ street.”
Ken is the Chairman of the Normandy Veterans Association (Sheffield Branch) and, along with his wife Joan, has been invited by our local MP Richard Caborn to attend the 65th Anniversary Commemorations at the House of Commons, followed by a visit to 10 Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister – truly a well deserved honour for this brave man and all his comrades.