Today and this evening were wet, cold and windy, very unpleasant for June, not a good night to be outdoors we'd say ?. Perhaps even worse for those leaving for work at dawn on Monday 6th June. Please though spare a thought for our ancestors, without their actions we might be facing an altogether worse day tomorrow...

This night back in 1944, June 5th, D-Day Minus 1, was similar weather I think; definitely not a good night to be clambering into an unheated aircraft and flying across the English Channel. This is what Alfred Henry James Beard from Longhope was doing this very night back in 1944. As a Lance Corporal of the 7th Battalion Parachute Regiment he would be among the very first Allied soldiers to invade Europe.
It's thought they were part of the force tasked with capturing & holding the small but key “Pegasus” & “Horsa” canal bridges just inland of the Normandy coastline towards Caen, to prevent German armour from crossing and attacking the eastern flank of the troop landings at Sword Beach.
See map here, please open in new window to show full map http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/sub4/Peg-map.gif

Fred & his mates parachuted into the area to reinforce the Glider troops who'd landed 30 minutes earlier. Their drop was scattered, but by 0300 hours, 40% of the Battalion had reached the bridges and more men continued to come in throughout the day. Enemy attacks by tanks, armoured cars and infantry began to develop at 0500 hours 6th June and continued with increasing intensity during D-Day. They successfully beat off these attacks until relieved 20 hours later by 3rd British Infantry Division from the beaches. Among other things, while holding the bridges, 7th Parachute Battalion even had a “naval battle” with two German coastal craft on their way up the canal to Caen !. The first they knew we held the bridges was when our troops opened fire; the vessels went aground and their crews captured. The Luftwaffe made unsuccessful air raids on the bridge, a 500kg bomb actually hitting it but bouncing off without exploding.

One of the 7th Battalion was young budding actor Richard Todd who would, nearly two decades later, play Major Howard leading the Glider troops in the film "The Longest Day".

The 7th had been formed from the Somerset Light Infantry, as part of the 6th Airborne Division. During the Normandy campaign Divisonal casualties were heavy; 821 killed, 2,709 wounded and 927 missing. Like so many of his mates and other brave heroes throughout the Allied Forces, L/Cpl Fred Beard sadly died in action on 6th June 1944, aged 28years.

The Parachute Regiment Charter
"What manner of men are these who wear the maroon red beret? They are firstly all volunteers, and are then toughened by hard physical training. As a result they have that infectious optimism and that offensive eagerness which comes from physical well being. They have jumped from the air and by doing so have conquered fear. Their duty lies in the van of the battle: they are proud of this honour and have never failed in any task. They have the highest standards in all things, whether it be skill in battle or smartness in the execution of all peace time duties. They have shown themselves to be as tenacious and determined in defence as they are courageous in attack.
They are, in fact, men apart - every man an Emperor." Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Fred lies at rest in La Delivrande War Cemetery near Caen, see link below. The burials here mainly date from 6 June and the landings on Sword beach, particularly Oboe and Peter sectors. There are 942 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in this immaculately kept cemetery. The Cemetery also contains 180 German graves.

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2339545/BEARD,%20ALFRED%20HENRY%20JAMES
http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2033200/LA%20DELIVRANDE%20WAR%20CEMETERY,%...

Like so many, Fred's mother Bertha Beard nee Lane from Pound Cottage Longhope suffered badly during the World Wars. While she was only 18 her father Alfred had died in 1912, himself a mere 45. Soon after Bertha married local lad Henry as WW1 started, Henry joined-up and served overseas with the Army for six long years. Their first child and basis of this post Fred was born in 1915, Bertha still just 21. Bertha's only sibling James died in action in France in late 1918, aged just 20. Thankfully husband & new-father Henry survived WW1, they had three further children. WW2 brought the death of Fred in 1944. Despite supposedly "winning" the War and "thus the spoils", it probably didn't seem so for the Beards. Their only daughter Barbara was taken ill to sadly die in 1948 from TB aged just 23, two years after the birth of her only child and my half-sister Shirley.

Thankfully and despite all their personal tragedies, Bertha and Henry lived in Longhope to ripe old ages of 92 and 79 respectively. Who knows whether they would have been able to enjoy their retirements at all without the terrible losses of their loved ones at war and at peace ?. It is to men and women such as James and Fred from many Nations worldwide across many wars and conflicts that we owe our peace and freedom. So even if it is raining early tomorrow when we leave our warm homes, remember the likes of Fred and what he must have been thinking when setting off to "work" that cold wet night in June 1944.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them."