Surrey war veteran is determined to keep returning to Normandy
The room was full of memories. Surrounded by faded black and white photos, I could see the resolution etched on his face – a resolution to share those memories.
One photograph, in particular, stood out from the pile. There was no mistaking who it was.
The smiling young man in the picture, who helped shape history, was sitting next to me, albeit 65 years on.
“It’s difficult to talk about, yes,” he said. “But we need to talk about it now. Now is the time to talk.”
Veteran former Royal Navy seaman Peter Thompson, 84, is referring to one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War.
The year was 1944 and the Allied forces were about to liberate France in the largest single-day amphibious invasion of all time.
Mr Thompson set sail on board HM LST-304 with hundreds of others at 11pm on June 5 towards Normandy.
It was the eve of his 19th birthday and he was about to take part in an assault, which would see 10,000 men killed, wounded and reported missing.
It was D-Day and Britain was going to witness a turning point in the Second World War and a defining moment in history.
“I can still see the bodies,” he said. “Floating in the sea as our ship arrived at dawn. There was nothing we could do but to plough through them. It was horrendous.
“One of the hardest things was leaving the wounded. We were ordered not to stop and help anyone because then we’d put our own lives at risk.
“Thousands of injured men, who would have survived, ended up drowning in the sea.
“It didn’t matter that it was my birthday. Not then. Not in war.”
Mr Thompson said his mother still made him a cake but it arrived a month late and was in crumbs.
“It was delicious, though,” he added. “We were still on board ship when the parcel arrived and it was a real treat.”
On June 6 this year, Mr Thompson, who is chairman of the Surrey branch of the Normandy Veterans’ Association, returned with 18 others to Normandy to commemorate D-Day.
“It is certainly getting difficult. I am one of the youngest and I’m 84,” he added.
“I have to make sure that everyone is OK, that they have all their pills and they don’t get lost.
“One of the veterans is 93 now and it was hard for him but it means so much going back.”
Asked how he felt about the Queen not being invited to the commemorations he said he and many others were deeply saddened.
“We all wore badges with the Queen’s photo on. She’s not much younger than me you see and we are all getting old.
“I doubt whether she will ever go again and that is really sad.”
Mr Thompson, one of five brothers, all of whom survived the war, says he is the only one that makes the journey every year.
“They never wanted to speak of the war again, once it was over.
“None of them has ever been to Normandy with me. I just think they couldn’t cope with bringing the memories back.
“There was no counselling service or anything for us in those days.”
The D-Day landings are often regarded as the beginning of the end of the war, but for Mr Thompson this wasn’t the case.
“We did our job and were lucky to survive, but as soon as it was over we were deployed again. It didn’t feel like the end at all.”
Mr Thompson said he was in East Asia, on board ship, when news arrived that the war had ended in May 1945.
Like many others, it was another year and a half before he was able to return home.
“It came on the tannoy that the war had ended but I didn’t come home until September 1946. We still had a terrific amount of work to do.
“We did treat ourselves to a double rum when we heard, though.”
In September, Surrey Branch of the Normandy Veterans’ Association is going to be disbanded, as the number of veterans slowly diminishes.
Mr Thompson, however, is determined not to let anything prevent him from returning to Normandy.
“I have been going back for 27 years and I don’t plan to stop,” he said. “I will keep returning for the rest of my life.”
