Category: Wales
Date: 18.05.2004
Printable version
Six World War II veterans from the Royal Welch Fusiliers
are set to star in a moving TV documentary to mark the 60th anniversary
of the start of the Allied campaign in Normandy that followed the D-Day
landings.
Huw Jones of Newbridge, John Dugdale of Newtown, Ken
Williams of Pontypridd, Bruce Coombes of Kidwelly and two 'honorary
Welshmen' - Gilbert Barker of Newcastle and Tim Dumas of Surrey - are
now all in their 80s.
Six decades ago they were thrust into the battle in
Normandy and then fought their way through the Netherlands, the Ardennes,
across the Rhine and on to Hamburg in Germany.
The exploits of the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1944-45
are recounted by Falklands veteran Simon Weston in Weston's
Warriors (Monday 24 May, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ ONE Wales).
He takes the six veterans back to the scenes of their
battles including Evrecy in Normandy where Huw recounts how his platoon
was decimated:
"It was a mess from the beginning. Shells were coming
in all over the place.
"When we joined back up about two or three days
after the battle, they said 'Sorry - there are only three left from
your platoon.' A platoon was over 30 men in those days."
John tells of the sight and stench of the fighting at
Falaise in Northern France:
"The one outstanding impression of Falaise was the
smell," says John. "In order to help us get through that, we were issued
with some strong repellent of some sort which we could soak on our handkerchiefs
and tie around our noses and mouths.
"But the sight and the carnage of the vehicles
and guns and horses and dead Germans was something I shall never forget."
Ken remembers the horrors of the battles in the freezing
Ardennes forest in the winter of 1944-45:
"The shells were exploding, in our case, up in the
tree tops and throwing shrapnel downwards. It caused a lot of casualties:
the company commander was very badly hit, the only subaltern was hit,
the company sergeant major was hit and about 40 or 50 were wounded or
killed.
"Mind you, the Germans paid equally severely. All around
our position there were dead Germans with their bodies frozen in grotesque
attitudes."
Bruce recounts an horrific incident that occurred on
the German border in February 1945:
"We were shelled and mortared terribly so we ran into
a forest where tank tracks had formed a ready-made trench. We lay right
in front of the tanks with one man in front, me in the middle and one
behind me.
"It suddenly dawned on me what would happen if
the tanks started moving. Two of us got out but the man behind me wouldn't
move. I shouted but there was so much noise as the tanks started moving.
Then, all I could see was a hand and an arm sticking up from under the
tank's tracks."
Simon Weston, no stranger to the horrors of war, compares
the battles in which the veterans took part with the Falklands War:
"255 men died throughout the whole of the Falklands
campaign," says Simon. "120 Royal Welch Fusiliers lost their lives in
just the first two nights of battle in France.
"In the campaign to liberate Europe, nearly 1,500 men
from the regiment were killed and nearly 9,000 were injured or listed
as missing. We must never forget those who never saw home again.
"I think the journey for the veterans was at times poignant,
at times emotional, at times sad. It was a special journey because their
story has never been told before. I just hope we have done them justice
because they were heroes."
The veterans will meet up again with other members of
the regiment, past and present, at a special screening of the documentary
in Cardiff later this week.
Notes to Editors
Simon Weston and the six veterans featured in the programme
will be available for interview in Cardiff on Wednesday 19 May.
For further details, please contact the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Wales Press
Office.
