![]() The landing craft stopped, and we moved down the ramp and floated into the sea. We had all seen photos of the area at Ouistreham, where we were to land, and about 5,000 yards from the beach we heard the order 'floater' - we knew we were off. Standing on our tank cupola, we could see a vast Armada of ships: battleships blazing off their big guns rocket projectile ships launching hundreds of rockets and the RAF bombing the landing area. We had undergone weeks of practice at the submarine station in Gosport, sitting in an improvised tank turret in a 20ft-deep concrete bath and having 2,000 gallons of water poured in, which was a strain on the nervous system to say the least! ArrivalĪs we travelled across the Channel, there began a most terrific bombardment off the French coast. Actually they were very seaworthy, and survived in all but the highest seas. Once the screen was raised the tank was driven by two propellers from the main engine and steered by rudder and a very long tiller. They floated by means of a collapsible canvas screen fitted to the hull of the 32-tonne tank and raised or lowered by means of compressed air in bottles. The Sherman was one of the swimming tanks, known as DD tanks, because they were duplex drive vehicles. I had nicknamed our tank ‘Icanhopit’, and by the end of the war we were in ‘Icanhopit 4’. ![]() Pete was the co-driver and I was the gunner. ![]() My brother Pete and I were members of the same Sherman tank crew. Quite frankly, it wouldn't have bothered me at that stage if the thing had sunk. My first impression of the beginnings of D-Day was that there was simply no joy in crossing the Channel in a flat-bottomed boat! We had hung a bucket on the back of our tank, and it was one continuous stagger to the bucket to be sick and then back.
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