D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: John Dennett
John Dennett, Age 99, Royal Navy
Interviewed 22 February 2024
A crew member on an American-built Landing Craft Tank even before Normandy, Mr Dennett crossed the Channel on D-Day, leaving from Portsmouth and arriving at Sword Beach.
"At the time I had been in four or five invasions and at one stage it looked like Germany would invade," John said.
"When we got superiority in the air and started to fight back I thought ‘right, we can now fight’.
"What was I on D-Day? Eighteen or nineteen, prime of my youth.
"They (the ships) gathered at Portsmouth and our flotilla was there. We were all at anchor the day before when it didn’t happen.
"You have several jobs on a ship - I was an anti-aircraft gunner, always involved when we were in action stations.
"When we were underway I was at the wheel because my gun was at the port side of the bridge."
During the crossing on the night of June 5, John remembers ships all around them and he went back to his gun position. LCT 322 could take 16 tanks below and twenty lorries on the decks.
Mr Dennett remembers that at about 5am on D-Day when they were off the French coast there was a naval and air bombardment before the beach landings.
After the barrage, the smaller landing craft went in with the first troops.
Later in the morning his LCT anchored off and Mr Dennett was firing at the enemy. He remembers German aircraft being there too. A party on board then unloaded the vehicles.
"The noise was terrific," he added.
"We had six guns on board and they gave you a sense of security and they had a shield you look through, so you had the feeling ‘I’m alright here.’"
The crew carried on offloading troops and heavy equipment before heading back straight away.
LCT 322 made another 15 crossings on June 6.
More troops and tanks were taken over and on return journeys to Portsmouth then and in the days after the vessel would be loaded with injured Allied troops and German prisoners.
Mr Dennett said: "One day, it may have been D-Day, I was watching Marines in a boat fishing bodies out and at the time it didn’t occur to me what it was.
"Later in life I thought 'God Almighty those were lads that didn’t make it’ and I wish at the time I had had a bit more sympathy.
"But in war I am afraid when you are young you don’t see half the dangers. You couldn’t or else you wouldn’t do it.
"But if they hadn’t done it, where would we be?"
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