D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: John Roberts

John Roberts, Age 100, Royal Navy

Interviewed 6 November 2023

Part of the Naval offensive on D-Day designed to counter German artillery, Mr Roberts was a sub-lieutenant aboard the destroyer HMS Serapis.

It escorted a convoy across the Channel that included minesweepers tasked with clearing the way to Sword Beach. 

"At about half six in the morning I saw for the first time in my life the coast of France," he said.

"And I thought ‘this is amazing’. At about seven o’clock a Norwegian ship was torpedoed.

"We were all moving slowly towards the coast and there was this loud explosion.

"It was light enough for me to see the next ship next to us. It had broken in half and formed a V for about three minutes and then both parts of the V went under the water.

"It was a torpedo from a German fast patrol boat."

Destroyers including Serapis laid covering fire for the troops when they landed. 

Mr Roberts added: "Three or four days after the invasion, when we had finished bombarding the coast because the Army had moved too far inland, we were protecting all the ships.

"There were about a thousand anchored off the coast all disgorging stores and goodness knows what. 

"But the Germans were coming out every night to attack them. Our job was to attack them which we did and they didn’t get to the invasion ships at all."

Serapis went on to spend several weeks offshore.

Also a veteran of the Arctic convoys, Mr Roberts later flew Sea Fury fighters during the Korean War, was a Captain of HMS Ark Royal and retired as a Rear Admiral.

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