D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: John Life
John Life, Age 100, Royal Artillery
Interviewed 3 September 2024
Died 13 October 2024
A 20 year-old bombardier in the Royal Artillery, John Life was among the first British assault forces to land on Sword Beach on D-Day. The first troops hit the beach at 7.25am and he was there within the first hour.
His unit was trained to operate 25-pounder field guns, which it would later do once set up in Normandy. But he and others had crossed from Portsmouth manning American tanks and ordnance.
Mr Life said: "The 25-pounders were discarded for the actual landings. We went and done our stuff on German tanks. That day was ‘keep your heads down.’
"We couldn’t get very far with our guns. They weren’t very manoeuvrable - soft sand. That’s one of the reasons I think we had the Sherman tanks which had tracks.
"I remember very very clearly I was on this tank that was on the half track, ready to go off. And when my turn came I had to stand up and mount a Browning gun and in the tank we had to go up a slope on the landing craft and when you get to the top you go down you go down onto the beach itself.
"Now I was standing up in that position firing. I didn’t fire actually but I was in the firing position from the Sherman and I thought ‘That’s alright.’ I turned round to see a friend of mine who was 18 at the time.
"To see how he was getting on and he was just at the summit of going up one ramp and coming down the other side. And I saw him clutch his throat as I was looking for him.
"That was it, killed straight away.
"Still, that’s what we were trained for and I was lucky in that respect, coming off a tank and seeing a pal shot like that.
"We started firing from the beach so that the infantry in front of us. Gave them a bit of time to move inland slightly by firing ahead of them to protect them to a certain extent.
"Very noisy.
"The Germans had these rockets they sent over all the time. Not so much aircraft. But we got plenty of shelling."
Once off the beach Mr Life and others camped out that night and then began seeking positions from which to fire on targets, which included enemy gun positions.
"I had a certain amount of protection," he said.
"I was in a command post dishing out targets to whatever. We had to dig trenches for a bit of shelter. Then the Germans got wind of it and we had shells coming down on half-dug positions.
"The German tanks were very hot. Smart. No sooner had our guns started firing off a position then they picked it up and were firing in retaliation straight away."
Mr Life continued through France and into Germany and is thankful to have come out unscathed.
He said: "I am sorry for the chaps that are lost. Especially when you see a friend die like that.
"All in all we did a pretty good job out there."
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