Getting ready for action: Veteran recalls D-Day as piece from huge ocean pipe is revealed in Hampshire
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
A remnant from PLUTO, the huge World War Two underwater pipeline, will be shown to the public near the site where it once supplied petrol to the Allied armies
© Hampshire County Council“Just before D-Day, the camp was closed,” says Cecil Newton, a 92-year-old former member of the 4th & 7th Royal Dragoon Guards who was stationed at Lepe for a month in 1944 before being deployed. “They put a marquee up with maps and written instructions of what was going to happen on D-Day – but they didn’t give the exact location, of course.
“There were rows of tents and tanks delivered there, at the bottom of the hill. My time was spent unpacking the tents and getting them ready for action.”
They are rarely found, but one is about to go on show in a two-day display within the surrounding country park. “On June the 3rd, on a very bright sunny day, the squadron sergeant major marched on the landing craft tanks with his clipboard under his arm,” Newton recalls of the campaign.
“By the evening, the weather had become frightful and we were delayed a day. We went through extremely rough weather, getting very, very sick to the landing beaches.”
A special Home Front exhibition will re-enact some of Newton’s experiences as part of the programme.
- Lepe’s Home Front Weekend runs June 25-26 2016. Find out more about Lepe’s D-Day story. Visit Culture24's listings for more events marking the anniversary of D-Day.
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