D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Peter Belcher

Peter Belcher, Age: 100, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Interviewed 22 February 2024

A paratrooper in the Airborne Regiment, 4th Battalion Ox and Bucks, Mr Belcher was dropped behind enemy lines in a wooden glider in the early hours of D-Day before the beach landings.

He took off from RAF Harwell in Oxfordshire, part of a crew in the glider tasked with manning an anti-tank gun.

"Whatever practice you do goes out the window when the real thing starts," he said.

"A Halifax plane was the tow plane - there were six of us on the gun and we had some RAF and artillery observers with wireless sets because the RAF were to bring in planes if we needed assistance.

"You’re scared to death.

"Whatever training you do it’s going to be them or you.

"We landed and got everything out of the glider. Luckily it was very quiet for us."

An Ox and Bucks unit commanded by Major John Howard had already taken road bridges across the River Orne and the Caen Canal, including Pegasus Bridge.

In doing so they became the first troops on the ground during the liberation of France.

Mr Belcher said: "At first there were not a great number of troops. They were further inland. By eight o’clock the next morning was the first time I actually fired a gun in anger. 

"We knocked out two tanks in about twenty minutes. The first time I fired at a tank the shot hit it and bounced off, ricocheted off. And it’s very frightening.

"The tank stopped and before he got a chance to see what was happening we had to get another shot in and we did. It burst into flames and the crew bailed out. 

"One of our members had a machine gun. It sounds harsh but this is warfare.

"You don’t let people come out of a tank and wish them the best of luck. You shoot them."

Mr Belcher is one of the last veterans from the Ox and Bucks who saw action in Normandy.

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