D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Peter Smoothy

Peter Smoothy, Age 99, Royal Navy

Interviewed 19 July 2023

Among a crew of 99 on a Tank Landing Ship that crossed the Channel on D-Day, Peter Smoothy from Herne Bay was part of the massive effort to drop vehicles onto the beaches in support of the landing soldiers.

His vessel was designed to support amphibious landings and went to Juno Beach.

It was carrying tanks on the inner deck, lorries on the upper deck and had about 200 people on board including drivers and crew.

"On D-Day we arrived on time when we were supposed to be there, and we towed a big flat ferry behind us going over," Mr Smoothy said.

"We anchored up and loaded some vehicles out through our doors onto this big ferry because it would float in about three inches of water - managed to get that away to the shore which took I think about 15 vehicles altogether.

Peter Smoothy's photograph from his wartime identity document

"They came back to do another one, but the tide and the wind caught them and they lost control of it in the end and the carrier they were using blew into the shore.

"By then they were getting people out of the ship straight onto the beach through LST, landing ship tanks, that's what they're called.

"People don't see very many of them but they're the biggest ships that they were using for the war carrying the biggest amount of troops and vehicles."

Mr Smoothy and his fellow comrades were involved in carrying nearly 30 tanks and about 45 vehicles.

Peter Smoothy and comrades during the Normandy landings Credit: Peter Smoothy

He said: "We eventually got into the beach about half past eight. We couldn't get in, there just wasn't room for us all to get in. It was reasonably quiet on the beach because the fighting had gone away from the edge so they were fighting some of them miles away.

"There were shells going that way and that way and every time we heard one we said 'well that one's not mine, that one's not mine' because they'd come and gone before you realised what they were.

"All the firing was going from our ships behind us. We weren't very far from (HMS) Belfast actually.

"And we went round her bow before she let a full salvo go. I was in the stern of our ship and I thought I was going in the water.

"You can imagine when I go to see the Belfast in London now that's where my memories go. To that day in 1944."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...