D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Len Trewin

Len Trewin, Age 100, Parachute Regiment

Interviewed 25 July 2024

Volunteering for the Parachute Regiment and joining the 8th Battalion, Mr Trewin spent months training before being deployed to Normandy in the weeks following the invasion. He flew over the English Channel in a Dakota from an air base in Gloucestershire

"It was about falling and rolling to take the shock of the drop," he said.

"We took off. Didn’t know, a mystery. We just dropped wondering what was going to happen. It’s three seconds from when you leave the plane to when you hit the ground.

"You haven’t got time to think. 

"You've got too much to do.

"The job, with a rifle strapped to your leg. You have to lower that and then you have to orient your position where you're going to land. Everything falls into place. When you jump it’s the biggest shambles ever but you soon sort yourself out. 

"What we used was coloured smoke for different companies and different battalions."

Mr Trewin took part in the battle for Caen - a key strategic target for the Allies. It took them until the first week of August to take control of the city and vicinity.

He said: "You automatically become involved in the fighting and then you have patrols to do and different things. You shut  your mind to it. You have to.

"A piece of shrapnel (hit my forehead). We were marching along the road and they were firing 20mm cannons down the road like machine guns - and bursting shells. It’s still there. There was no way to get any help.

"The worst thing I saw was a mortar bomb dropped amongst three officers and two of them had their  legs blown off. I was here and they were…. And I thought to myself ‘that's your lucky day, mate.’

"The thing I remember most was all the marching. Because being a parachute battalion, we had no transport. Well, the only transport was feet."

The battalion returned to England before later being sent to the Ardennes in north eastern France.

"It’s something that had to be done and you had no say in it," Mr Trewin said. 

"It’s fading now, dying out - memories. You remember friends that was killed."

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