Northern beaches veterans remember D-Day landings 75 years on

D-Day anniversary: As these two men took in the ocean air at Narrabeen on Thursday, their surroundings could not have been more different from the body-strewn sands of Normandy 75 years ago.

Dennis Hensman, left, and Len Mills, right, both played their part in D Day

Dennis Hensman had just turned 19 when he found himself packed into a landing craft being tossed around the English Channel by the rough seas of early June 1944.

He, like everyone else, knew the attempted liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe was imminent.

But when, where and by what means remained a closely guarded secret.

“It was only when in the landing craft we were told. They got out this model which showed us where we were going to land,” the now 94-year-old, originally from Scotland, said.

“We knew it was time.”

Landing craft being escorted towards the Normandy beaches by the Royal Navy. Pic: British Armed Forces

The engine of the landing craft roared into life and they set course for Gold Beach, one of the five (Utah, Omaha, Juno and Sword) to be targeted that morning.

As dawn broke, Royal Marine Dennis saw the vast Allied armada before him.

“All of a sudden there were these huge battleships and landing craft all around.

“There were aircraft overhead and as we got closer there was what we thought was a thick sea mist.

“In fact it was a smoke screen put up for us. It was then we knew we were going in.”

The engines were revved to full speed and the men given their final orders.

Some stood in silence, others took the opportunity to seek divine intervention.

With the Normandy coast visible on the horizon, the Allied battleships launched a ferocious barrage on the German position.

“You could hear the shells roaring overhead,” he said. “It was a terrific noise, it sounded like trains going through a station.”

Allied soldiers landed on five beaches across Normandy 75 years ago on Thursday

The Germans took cover, knowing the guns would have to stop when the landing craft got close to the beach.

“We weren’t worried, we thought we were invincible,” Dennis remembers. “We were only young boys.”

As he readied himself to storm the beach, Paddington-born airman Len Mills was already on his way back to England having pounded German positions from his Lancaster bomber.

The wireless operator was one of a seven man crew of the Royal Air Force’s premium long range bomber.

“I remember there was a lot of secrecy surrounding D-Day,” the now 97-year-old, also of Narrabeen, said.

“We didn’t know where we were going until the last minute.”

It was only the previous evening that Len and his fellow airmen had been given the nod that the invasion was on. They would be tasked with pounding a German marshalling yard to stop reinforcements reaching the men on the beaches.

In the dead of night they took off from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, bound for northern France.

Troops from the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-mer on Juno Beach, Normandy (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“I remember seeing all these thousands of dots down there,” he said. “It’s strange to think that Dennis was among them and now here we are all these years on.”

Len and his crew dropped their payload relatively untroubled and were on their way home as the landing craft were approaching the beaches.

Not every operation had been so trouble free for Len. Bomber Command had among the highest causality rates of any military unit in the war.

Life expectancy was brutally short with crews fortunate to make it through a dozen sorties.

Len and his crew flew 34.

“It was 80 per cent luck and 20 per cent skill,” he said. “You never knew when it was your turn. You were scared but you just got on with it.”

With Len returning to base, Dennis and his Royal Marines were approaching the beach.

With the Allied battleships’ bombardment over, the German defenders returned to their bunkers.

As the landing craft ramps dropped, the Germans opened fire, spraying machine gun rounds across the beach.

Dawn breaks over Gold Beach this morning on the 75th anniversary. Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

“You could hear shrapnel banging on the ramp of the landing craft and then we were out,” Dennis said.

“There was no cover, you we had to get off the beach and up to the (sea) wall as quickly as possible.

“It was chaos, you weren’t trying to kill anybody it was just survival.”

With rounds whizzing over his head and men falling around him, Dennis pushed forward and made it to seawall.

After a furious few hours of fighting, the Allies secured the beach and began their push further into France.

By the end of the D Day 4,400 Allies had been killed and nearly 10,000 injured.

But they had secured a foothold in Nazi occupied Europe and in the months that followed they would push further into France and then Germany, leading to the Nazi surrender.

Like many of that generation both Dennis and Len are incredibly modest about their service.

“We just did what we had to do,” Dennis said. “We were the lucky ones,” Len added.