D-Day 80 commemorations. People sharing thoughts and their stories

The News, Portsmouth

Transcript

00:00So I'm Laura Payne and this is Oakley, and you look obviously first in queue today to

00:15the D-Day commemorations.

00:16Yes, two hours early.

00:17I'm obviously excited and looking forward to it.

00:18Yeah, really looking forward to it, really excited.

00:19I understand you've also got a personal story as well haven't you?

00:25Yes.

00:26Who's this?

00:27This is my great grandad, he landed on D-Day, the day before his 18th birthday.

00:33Oh wow, okay.

00:35My name's Ron Snowball and I come from London, South London.

00:40South London, nice.

00:41There's a difference.

00:42Yeah, so are you a veteran yourself or?

00:48Yes, obviously not of D-Day, I'm younger than that.

00:51Well it's very important, I mean there was one of my uncles was killed, he was a company

00:57sergeant major, he was killed on the 7th of June, well he died on the 7th of June,

01:02he was injured on the 6th, but he was a company sergeant major, and so he's buried at Bayer.

01:08So when we go over next week we're hoping to have a quick visit there so I can visit

01:13his grave and photograph it and send it to the rest of his family, so it's very important.

01:21Why don't you go and talk us through the medals you've got on you.

01:24Oh these are just for turning up.

01:28First in the Naffy queue.

01:31Things like that, they're all service medals, there's no gallantry awards there.

01:35My name's Janet Somerset, I was born in Portsmouth and I've lived in Portsmouth all my life.

01:40My dad, my granddad and my great granddad were all professional sailors.

01:44Oh okay, so it's quite a personal thing for you too.

01:46Yes, because my granddad was on the Arctic convoys and he was very brave and saved the

01:52lives of several of his shipmates and to that he was awarded the OBE, so I'm very proud.

01:58Yeah, I imagine that was one of the reasons it's so important for you.

02:02Yes, very much so.

02:03So are you looking forward to it?

02:05Yes I am, I am.

02:07I mean I'm a service family because my brother was in the army and then the police force

02:12and my cousin was also in the army, so they've served in recent years.

02:17What kind of are your expectations for today?

02:20Just to see our dignitaries and the King and the Queen and the Prince of Wales

02:26and to see everybody together because it is together that matters.

02:32I think, you know, watching, obviously it's 80 years, it's been such a long time now,

02:38I guess in a way it can kind of become a distant memory, obviously there's not too many

02:41dignitaries left. Is that one of the reasons you believe it's kind of so important for us

02:45all to be here today to remember?

02:47We need to remember that because of them we're able to stand here and do what we please.

02:52Yeah, my name's Steve Baggett, this is my wife Maxine

02:55and my connection with the DJ Museum is that my father was the commanding officer

03:04of the Blanding Craft 7074, which is the main exhibit there.

03:09He was actually in charge of it on DJ.

03:12Okay, it's a really personal story to you to be here today.

03:15Yes it is.

03:16Yeah, he never spoke about his experiences on the day, he never spoke much at all about

03:24his experiences during the war, but then a lot of people who served just didn't.

03:29Yeah.

03:29They kept it to themselves.

03:31Who they thought to talk about.

03:32Yeah, that's what they said.

03:34How interesting, so yeah, did you ever find, obviously knowing about him being the captain,

03:39how did you find out that he, kind of what his service was like?

03:43Mainly through the museum actually.

03:45Okay.

03:46As I say, he never spoke about it, but I've picked up bits and pieces from the museum

03:53and records and things, and in turn we've provided them with photos of my father and

04:02also, I don't know if you've been on the LCT, but they've recreated the captain's cabin,

04:09right, and in the cabin there's a photograph.

04:13I have my mother because we were coming back to him.

04:19All right.

04:25Hi, I'm Amy Rushton and this is Luke Rushton.

04:28Yeah, so how important was it for you to be here today personally?

04:31I think it's really important, I mean we've grown up in the area, surrounded by the history,

04:36you know, I came to the D-Day 50 celebrations when I was a child and have really distinct

04:40memories of it, so I'm really pleased that I could bring Luke along and his dad is playing

04:45on the stage with the Royal Marines Band, so it's really important for him.

04:48Oh wow, amazing.

04:49So what does your father do?

04:51Oh, he's a trumpet player in the Royal Marines.

04:53Oh, amazing, so he's part of the service as well?

04:55Yeah, he's a sergeant, yeah.

04:57So quite a big day, really.

04:58Yeah, it's a really big day, we're really excited to be here.

05:01And how important is it, well, you kind of mentioned it there already,

05:04but bringing your son to this event to learn about what happened 80 years ago today?

05:10It's really, really important, and we are fortunate that we spent a lot of time in

05:13France and visited the sites in France as well, and so they have grown up around it,

05:16just like I did. I used to be in the Royal Marines Band, his father still serves,

05:20so it's really important to us that we get to mark this properly here.

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