D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Ron Parker

Ron Parker, Age 101, Royal Engineers

Interviewed 3 April 2024

Called up at aged 18 to train with the Royal Sussex Regiment, Mr Parker from Worthing then joined the Royal Engineers and was sent to France a fortnight after the landings.

"After D-Day we gradually made our way down to Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight," he said.

"We were on standby all the time, fully equipped so we could go at a moment's notice which we did.

"We went after a storm in the Channel and I went over about two weeks afterwards."

Mr Parker remembers landing on Sword Beach via a larger ship which needed to wait for a tide.

The first job for his comrades was to find somewhere to base themselves.

Mr Parker added: "We had to dig in as quick as we could and make a defensive position. A machine gun post as well.

"And be up at half past four in the morning in case of a German attack."

That air bombardment never came, and the job he and others did, was to fix ships and in particular - landing craft that had got stuck in the sand or shallow water.

"People were stuck in the water and couldn't start their landing craft - or we had to get men out of somewhere," he said.

"We did all the odd jobs. And there were a lot of troops in Normandy waiting to go, waiting for the breakthrough.

"We would go out and find out the reason why a landing craft was stuck. Sometimes it was because the petrol hadn't been turned on.

"Space was limited and there were so many men coming in."

This work ensured there were fewer blockages on the beaches at a time when more and more ships were landing with vehicles and supplies.

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