My father, Cecil Newton, was one of the last surviving British Army Sherman amphibious tank soldiers who landed in Normandy in the first assault on D-day, 6 June 1944.
Two years previously, he had joined the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards as a gun loader, training in the innovative and top-secret Duplex Drive (DD) “swimming” tanks. On 3 June 1944, they sailed from Lepe Beach in Hampshire for France. Wading ashore on Gold Beach at dawn, they attacked the target blockhouse and the crew surrendered.