D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Bryan Samain
Bryan Samain, Age: 99, Royal Marine Commandos
Interviewed 19 February 2024
Died 24 June 2024
Arriving a week after D-Day, and among the first reinforcements, Mr Samain was an officer with 45 Royal Marine Commando.
He was sent to the front line less than two hours after crossing the Channel by sea.
"It was a relatively quiet part of the front," he said.
"Quite a lot of marshy country so there weren’t tanks around.
"But there was a division of German troops who consisted of veterans who had fought on the Russian front, and there were occasional clashes with them because they retreated back from us and dug themselves into different emplacements."
A section commander, Mr Samain became the unit’s sniper officer.
"There were four Marine-rank snipers and one had already accounted for 32 of the enemy in the first week of fighting," Mr Samain said.
"We went out on a regular patrol facing woodland and hid up.
"A sniper has to prepare a hide in which he can conceal himself and lie motionless for a long time, an hour or so.
"Nine times out of ten you will see something and have a shot at it - then you have to lie perfectly still because they are going to wonder where the hell it’s come from.
"The worst thing you can do is start thinking about dashing away."
Later Mr Samain became the unit’s intelligence officer because the previous one was killed on D-Day.
His role included leading the interrogation of prisoners, assisted by German Jews who had joined the British Army.
This helped build up a picture of enemy positions and movements. And he updated officers around him, acting as ‘’a mobile newspaper’’ in his words.
After the war he became a journalist.
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