These are the recollections of John Barnes who as part of 13th/18th Royal Hussars QMO landed on Sword beach on D-Day in a swimming Duplex-Drive Sherman tank. John Barnes
Hi This is the story of Fred Bentley ex 6th DLI I am sure some of you are aware of his story ,some may even have had the privillage of meeting him.For those who are not familiar please read on it is the tale of an ordinary man in extrordinary circumstances;- When Fred Bentley joined the Durham Light Infantry (DLI), they were in intensive training for the D-Day operations. Previously, Fred had been part of a young soldiers battalion, which was discarded, so when he joined the DLI, one of his first experiences of conflict were the Normandy landings.“You think you’re going to get killed so the fear creeps in obviously - you’re like the condemned man going to the cell. But when the action starts – you can only call it exhilaration. There was so much happening – men were dropping like flies, treading on mines, getting caught on barbed wire, but you’re so busy, and so buoyed up for it, the fear goes. It was horrendous when you look back at it, but you do these things.” When Fred left school at 14, his duty to support his widowed mother meant he had to find a job. He first worked for a car manufacturer in Birmingham, and then moved to Northampton to manufacture aero components at the outbreak of war. He volunteered for service when it became clear that it would be more beneficial financially, joining the DLI in 1944. “At that time, you felt out of things if you didn’t join up. Although you knew the risks, you just wanted to be part of it. There was a bit of bravado I think.” On D-Day itself, two American divisions, one Canadian division and two British divisions the 49th and 50th formed the spearhead of the cross-Channel invasion. At the age of 20, a private in 6th battalion Durham Light Infantry, 50th division, Fred Bentley took part in the D-Day landings. After weeks of being cooped up near Southampton, broken only by strictly supervised route marches, Fred Bentley remembers the night of 1st June very clearly. "On the Thursday night, June 1st, they gave us 120 French francs cash, so we knew it was France. All the chaps went crazy and spent the money on beer. Friday we went down to the boats and we should have landed on the Saturday but because of the adverse weather conditions we were stuck on the American LCIs. We had to spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night on the things before setting off on Monday." Finally the weather cleared enough for the go-ahead and early on the morning of Tuesday 6th June, the invasion fleet was off the Normandy coast. "The Americans gave us a huge breakfast. I've never had so much bacon in all my life. Of course, what we didn't realise was there'd be no more food, except what you carried yourself, for two days." "I said to one of the American sailors, 'How long are you waiting here for?' He says 'We'll drop the food, pick up the first casualties and then scram'. So I said 'What happens if we don't hold it?' And he says 'You'll hold it, because we won't be here to take you home'." Fred remembers the moments before the landings as being terrifying, as the skipper would not pull up near enough to the shore. Men were being forced to jump off the boat and swim to shore – and with 70 pounds of kit, they were drowning. Fred recalls telling his friend, unable to swim, to hang onto his pack so he could pull him ashore.In the infantry, you’re one body, and you get on with everybody. It’s a friendship you can’t describe to people who have never been in the forces. There’s always a team – in a tank there’s a team, in a boat there’s a team, in an aircraft there’s a team. In infantry it’s one on one. If you’ve only got the price of one pint you have a half and yer mate the other half, if he has one cigarette, he’ll smoke half and give you the other half – that’s the friendship you form. Quite frankly, that friendship sometimes saves your life.”Of the landing itself, Fred remembers the fear the men had of drowning, dragged down by the heavy weight of their packs. Their fears were real, mines on submerged girders threatened landing craft going into the shallows and many soldiers drowned before they could get into their depth. "If you can imagine it - the 88s, the spandaus and the mortars - everything was directed on to the beach because that's where they tried to stop us. You run like bloody hell. You don't have to be told to get forward when you're being shot at. There's only the sea behind you and the land in front so there's only one way to go. And you go like the clappers." Covered in the oil and petrol floating on the water, Fred crossed the beach safely and headed inland with his brigade towards Bayeux. The fighting continued all day and the town was taken in hand-to-hand combat, and then held against a German counter attack. The battle for Caen, which followed, was protracted and slow against heavy German resistance. It was in this fighting that Fred Bentley lost his sight. "Confronting our battalion was a spandau machine gun and a mortar. We were very exposed going forward so they decided to try and take it out with a patrol. I lead the patrol and it was some distance, about a thousand meters. A Jerry spotted me, he put up a grenade and it exploded in front of me. And that was me out of the war." While the attack continued, Fred had to crawl back to the Allied trenches. I felt panicked, as the practice was to leave your wounded to fend for themselves. Fortunately I managed to get back to the lines they asked for the password, which I couldn’t remember so I gave one from two nights previous. Peter Piper! Peter Piper I called luckily one of the lads recognised my voice and came and got me.While he waited for his wounds to be dressed, someone offered him a cigarette and lit a match. When he couldn't see the flame, Fred realised that he had been blinded. Returned to England, Fred came into contact with St Dunstan’s at Stoke Mandeville hospital. "St Dunstan’s gave me confidence. And we got strength from each other as well. We were all in the same boat. You gather strength from what you've got and forget about what you haven't got." Before joining the army Fred had been an apprentice engineer and wanted to go back to it. St Dunstan's helped Fred adapt his engineering skills and soon helped him find a job in the motor trade. He went into industry and spent 33 years in the same job in engineering. In that time, Fred bought his own home, married, and helped to raise his children. In his retirement, he nursed his wife Betty through serious illness and was widowed 7 years ago. Fred Bentley lives near to the St Dunstan's National Centre at Ovingdean where he frequently meets his friends for a drink on a Saturday night. Aged 80, Fred is content to look after himself. "I think I've got a good life" Fred looks back on his life with no regrets. “In spite of everything, I don’t think I’d have missed [the war]. It’s an experience that will live with you throughout your life. I think I’ve got a pretty good life now. I’m content with what I’ve got. I’ve no complaints. If I were born again, I’d do exactly the same things. “After the war, you go on. You don’t look back – I’ve never looked back. I like to think life’s like a movie set – you go on and you go on.” “There’s an expression I hate. That’s when they say a man gave his life. You don’t give your life. You have it taken from you! Nobody goes into action expecting to be killed. I didn’t give my sight. I had it taken away.” Fred Bentley…..RIP 2007<O:p regards Verrieres
The John Barnes tale of the 13/18th Hussars is typical of a Tank man's lot - although the landing in DD Tanks was an extra - my Father worked for Metro Cammel in Birmingham and he was in charge of a section which tested the DD tanks - he told me to avoid serving in them at all costs - I think he got it right ! The Bentley tale is also typical of an Infantryman's life in action and I thank God that I never served on foot ! Cheers
Tom says The Bentley tale is also typical of an Infantryman's life in action and I thank God that I never served on foot ! I'll drink to that ! Ron
