D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Roy Hayward

Roy Hayward, Age 98, Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry

Interviewed 22 November 2023

Landing after dark on the evening of D-Day on Gold Beach as a reserve tank crewman, Roy Hayward from the Isle of Wight was in an ammunition lorry following a line of tanks as it moved forwards. 

He said: "We left from Southampton on 6 June.

"We landed in the dark that evening, and I was on Gold.

"Arromanches was the main part where we were landing. We were already having a lot of casualties and so I was called up to be the radio operator in the tank crew."

A few days later the Sherman tank Mr Hayward was in took a direct hit from an enemy shell.

"On this particular morning we were in a lane and an infantry sergeant approached us and said he was being held up by something, probably a tank so we took him on board to show us where he was having the problem.

"We moved down the lane and suddenly there was a very large thud at the front of our tank and we tried to reverse and get out of trouble.

"But another shell arrived and this time it penetrated and landed round and about my feet and there was an explosion.

"It became absolutely essential that everybody got out of the tank.

"The crew all left alright but the sergeant obviously didn’t know what was happening and before I could get out I had to get him out of the cockpit and I then managed to crawl away from the tank which was beginning to get a bit hot.

"In the time I was getting out I had received burns to my right hand and I saw my right leg was completely smashed below the knee and I had lost the front of my left foot.

"I found subsequently there was enough heel on that foot to enable me to stand otherwise I would not have got out of that tank.

"Saved my life, yes. Within a minute or two I would have been burnt to death."

After being taken to a field hospital My Hayward was returned to Portsmouth where both legs were amputated. He has been through eight pairs of artificial limbs in the decades since the explosion.

He said: "The left one just above the ankle and the right one about five inches below the knee.

"I don’t think it had a lot of effect on me. I accepted it straight away. I knew that was going to happen.

"Particularly later I thought ‘Gosh you are so lucky you have come back. I lost so many friends and members of my regiment who didn’t come back.

"And that’s been my attitude."

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