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00:00We're going to make a TV show, Grandad.
00:08Sorry?
00:09We're making a TV show.
00:12Are we?
00:12Yeah. It's all about you.
00:15About me, is it?
00:16Yeah.
00:17This is 97-year-old Ralph McClure,
00:20grandfather to one of the country's best-known actors,
00:23Vicky McClure,
00:24who lives just round the corner from him in Nottingham
00:26and regularly pops in for a cuppa.
00:29I'm going to make a cup of tea.
00:31Don't put anything in at the moment.
00:34Oh, right, so no whiskey?
00:35No whiskey.
00:36Got it. Any sugar?
00:39Oh, yes.
00:40How many?
00:41Possible for two.
00:43My grandad is just a lovely man.
00:47I mean, he loves his garden, he loves his football.
00:51That's all you care about, isn't it?
00:53Bloody county.
00:55Ralph's also quite proud of his granddaughter.
00:58Yes, we like to see her on the celly.
01:01She's a remarkable girl, isn't she?
01:04A remarkable girl.
01:06She really is.
01:08How's that?
01:09Lovely.
01:11Ralph and his granddaughter may be close,
01:13but for a very long time,
01:15Ralph never told Vicky or anyone else in his family
01:18about the role he played on arguably the most important single day of the Second World War.
01:25Kept us at the back of his mind, mainly.
01:29On June 6th, 1944, Ralph took part in the Allied invasion of France,
01:36the biggest seaborne invasion the world has ever seen,
01:40now known simply as D-Day.
01:42And I know nothing about her.
01:46You know, you get older and get interested in things
01:48that you definitely wasn't interested in as a kid,
01:50and I am interested now.
01:52I think it's really important to tell their stories,
01:54and I'd love to hear grandad's story,
01:56and he wants to do it.
01:57Vicky wants to find out how a young lad
02:00who lived 80 miles from the ocean
02:02grew up to join the Navy.
02:05We're nowhere near a beach in Nottingham, grandad.
02:09And ended up on the Normandy battlefield.
02:12It was like hell let go.
02:17Along the way, Vicky will learn how and why D-Day happened.
02:21This is the map room.
02:22This is the main room where everything was planned from
02:25for the invasion of Europe.
02:27Wow.
02:27And she'll experience just a little bit
02:30of what her grandfather and his brothers-in-arms
02:33went through on that monumental day.
02:35Oh.
02:37As finally, 80 years on,
02:40Vicky heads off on an emotional journey
02:42to learn all about her grandad's war.
02:47This is amazing.
02:52Yes, I'm looking forward to it.
02:56Oh, yes.
02:57In February 1925, a little-known German politician
03:10called Adolf Hitler took control
03:12of the reformed National Socialist Party.
03:14No one knew it yet, but the countdown to D-Day had begun.
03:18At the start of that very same month, Ralph McClure was born in a working-class area of Nottingham called The Meadows.
03:32We'll try and work out where your old house was.
03:36Ralph's giving Vicky a little tour of his Nottingham, but his childhood home on Collingham Footway has long since been demolished.
03:45Our place was down there, Collingham Footway.
03:50That was where it was.
03:53That's where we lived.
03:55Wow.
03:55What was your house like, Grandad?
03:59There was a schoolery, which used to have to light up every Monday morning for the washing.
04:06Right.
04:07A bit of a living room.
04:10How many bedrooms?
04:12Two.
04:13Two.
04:13Did you have a tin bath?
04:15Oh, yes.
04:17Where was it?
04:18It was in...
04:19We had that in the lounge in front of the fire.
04:24And then was your toilet outside?
04:26Oh, yes.
04:28Oh, thank you, very much.
04:30How does it feel being back here?
04:34Very good memories.
04:36Yeah, good.
04:40In 1933, the Nazis came to power in Germany with Hitler as Chancellor.
04:45They moved to destroy all opposition and started rebuilding Germany's military might.
04:55By then, eight-year-old Ralph McClure's life revolved around football.
05:01You boys!
05:03Yes, you boys.
05:06When I went to my first match, I was about four.
05:11He loves his football.
05:13The reason I'm a county fan is because of him.
05:18We used to come down with my father, and he'd have me on his shoulders if I couldn't see him.
05:24Ah!
05:26That was down there.
05:27That's where we always used to go.
05:30Wow.
05:34It's marvellous, isn't it?
05:36Love it down there.
05:37Ralph still has a season ticket at his beloved Knotts County, one of the oldest clubs in the world.
05:46I mean, you was here probably, what, last week?
05:48Yes, the last week, mate.
05:50I was stuck by me team.
05:54Yeah.
05:54Through thick and thin.
05:56As a player, Ralph was so good that when he left school in 1939, at the age of 14, he was offered a professional contract at Leeds United.
06:06What did you play?
06:07Where did you play in...
06:09Left wing.
06:10Left wing.
06:12But his mother persuaded him that being a butcher at the co-op would provide him with a more stable career.
06:18And that was how I went into butchering.
06:24That was really when I stopped playing football.
06:27So, you're a butcher, and then what happened after that?
06:31Oh, well, of course, the war kicked in.
06:35I have to tell you now, this country is at war with Germany.
06:46There is no chance of expecting that this man will ever give up his practice of using force to gain his will.
06:54He can only be stopped by force.
06:56And now that we have resolved to finish it, I know that you will all play your part with calmness and courage.
07:11The war had begun.
07:15Soon, British cities were suffering under repeated bombing raids by the German Luftwaffe.
07:20On the night of the 8th of May, 1941, over 7,000 high-explosive bombs and incendiaries were dropped on Nottingham and its suburbs.
07:33221 people were killed.
07:36In the meadows, Ralph and his mum experienced a very near miss.
07:40When the raid came over, we was in the house.
07:50We went underneath the table when they dropped the bomb.
07:57And it demolished three rows, which would be down there.
08:04Most people in them were killed.
08:06We got windows blown out, doors blown and all that.
08:12And that was the day that we left.
08:16You left that same day?
08:17We left and never went back.
08:19Wow.
08:22A year later, Ralph decided it was time to do his bit.
08:27Six months before his 18th birthday, he left work,
08:31walked into Nottingham's city centre to the Royal Navy Recruiting Office on Carrington Street,
08:35and signed up.
08:39You've signed up for the Navy.
08:41Why the Navy?
08:42That's where I wanted to go.
08:44I wanted to go on board ship.
08:46I wanted to go to sea.
08:47We're nowhere near a beach in Nottingham, Grandad.
08:50Yeah.
08:51This is where you signed up?
08:55This is where I signed up.
08:57How did it feel?
08:58I was pleased.
09:00You've got a dream.
09:01You've got to follow it, haven't you?
09:02I got in trouble with my boss at work.
09:09Right.
09:09He was in charge of the buttery department of the co-op.
09:16And he came to me and he says,
09:20Oh, I've got you exempt on the grounds.
09:24You're supplying the public with food and all that.
09:29Right.
09:30I says, well, actually, you haven't, sir.
09:34Actually, I've signed up.
09:36I'm going for the Navy.
09:37You fool, he says.
09:39What you done that for?
09:42Ah.
09:42So I got in trouble there.
09:45You're always getting in trouble.
09:46By the time Ralph signed up in 1942,
09:52the decision had already been made
09:54to start preparing for a massive seaborne invasion
09:56across the Channel.
09:58As soon as he'd finished his basic training,
10:01Ralph's naval career also became firmly focused
10:04on preparing for D-Day.
10:06We all thought you was on a rowing boat.
10:08Ha, ha, ha, ha.
10:16Vicky McClure is, for the first time,
10:22discovering the story of her granddad's war
10:24and how able seaman Ralph McClure
10:27ended up on the Normandy beaches on D-Day
10:30as part of the largest seaborne invasion fleet
10:33ever assembled.
10:35There's nobody able to tell me exactly what happened
10:38better than somebody that was there
10:40and to hear it from my granddad.
10:42You know, it'd mean an awful lot to me.
10:46As well as learning her grandfather's D-Day story,
10:51Vicky's about to experience just a little
10:53of what it may have been like
10:55for more than 130,000 troops
10:57who assaulted the Normandy beaches.
11:06Wow.
11:07This is itchy.
11:10But, yeah, very practical.
11:12Let's see what it's like in the water.
11:16Vicky's about to learn that, for many troops,
11:25the hell of D-Day began
11:27and often tragically ended
11:29before they'd even reached the sand.
11:32We have this idea of a vessel
11:34coming right up to the beach,
11:36dropping its ramp,
11:36and then the men running ashore
11:38in ankle-deep water.
11:40But many of the landing craft
11:41couldn't get that close to the beach.
11:43Oh, try not to moan.
11:47None of them lot were moaning.
11:50For the average infantryman landing on D-Day,
11:53as well as their surge battle dress,
11:56which would absorb a lot of water,
11:58they're carrying very heavy webbing equipment
12:00loaded with ammunition.
12:02Their small pack on their back
12:04loaded with 48 hours' worth of supplies.
12:06And, of course, their boots
12:08with their gaiters fitted,
12:09which will just fill with water
12:10as soon as they step into the sea.
12:14Oh, my God, it's freezing!
12:17Yeah, it's cold!
12:20There are many, many cases
12:22of troops trying to get off
12:24of their landing craft
12:25into water that was far too deep for them
12:27and never even making it to the shore.
12:28Oh, my God!
12:33The plan is for Vicky
12:34to wade out as far as she can.
12:38Deep breaths.
12:40Then, like the troops on D-Day,
12:43she'll head for the beach
12:44as quickly as possible.
12:46I'm telling you, I'm walking
12:47I'll be in France!
12:49Oh, my gosh!
12:50Oh, my God, that is the heaviest feeling!
13:10Oh!
13:13It weighs more than me!
13:16Oh!
13:18Oh, my God!
13:20Oh, my God!
13:22Oh, my God!
13:23Ah!
13:24Ah!
13:26Never known weight like it!
13:29Ah!
13:30Ah!
13:32How did they do it?
13:35Ah!
13:37Ah!
13:38I tried
13:38to run as fast as I could,
13:42but the weight of all this...
13:44Ah!
13:46Ah!
13:48It's not that choppy out there.
13:50It's shallow.
13:52It's flat.
13:54It's sunny.
13:55Ah!
13:56It wasn't that cold.
13:58But trying to run back,
14:00you know,
14:02I'd have died, for sure.
14:03Like, that was...
14:05That was a really amazing experience, actually.
14:13Vicky may be exhausted,
14:15but for the troops on D-Day,
14:17reaching the beach was just step one.
14:20Next, they had to fight for their lives.
14:23In the winter of 1943,
14:31newly qualified ship signaller,
14:33Ralph McClure,
14:34joined his brand-new landing craft,
14:36LCT 952,
14:38for intensive training off the Scottish coast.
14:40We were going round the west of Scotland,
14:45mainly,
14:46staying at different locks,
14:49and going to different beaches,
14:52and loading up tanks and that.
14:55Just training on different beaches for the landing.
14:59Yeah.
14:59Getting ready.
15:00All around the British coast,
15:05craft of all sizes was secretly training
15:07to be part of the biggest invasion fleet
15:10assembled in all history.
15:12A vast number of vessels
15:14of all different shapes and sizes took part.
15:16There were 7,000 ships
15:18that were eventually involved in the overall operation.
15:21Nearly 4,000 of those were landing craft,
15:24the ships that would deliver troops
15:25and their equipment
15:26directly onto the Normandy beaches.
15:28One of the most numerous types of landing craft
15:31was the landing craft tank,
15:33the type that Ralph sailed across on.
15:35Over 800 landing craft tank,
15:38or LCTs,
15:39were used on D-Day.
15:42But this one, 7074,
15:44is the only surviving example.
15:48Wow.
15:50It's huge.
15:52It carried a few.
15:54Are you excited to get on board?
15:56I am, yes.
15:58Oh.
15:59I've never seen you this excited.
16:01Let's do it.
16:02Come on.
16:04After the war,
16:05this ship became a nightclub in Liverpool,
16:08but later fell into disrepair and sank.
16:12In 2014, she was salvaged, then restored.
16:16There we go.
16:17And is now on display
16:18at Portsmouth D-Day Story Museum.
16:21Wow.
16:22Grandad, look at that.
16:24That's a ring shaft.
16:25This is the first time Ralph's been back on an LCT since 1944.
16:32One minute you're at home making a cup of tea for non-argin,
16:35and now you're on board and, you know, another ship.
16:38I've run...
16:39I've run up and down a time or two.
16:42A landing craft tank is one of the largest types of landing craft
16:48that were built by the Allies in the Second World War.
16:50It's essentially a large, flat-bottomed vessel
16:54that's designed to be able to get onto a beach
16:56and deposit vehicles directly onto the shore.
16:59They have a cargo capacity of some 130 tonnes,
17:02have a speed of ten and a half knots
17:04and an endurance of 1,000 miles.
17:07You see how long it is?
17:08And going into the beaches, we carried eight tanks.
17:13Yeah.
17:14Shermans.
17:15Yes.
17:17They're a seaworthy craft,
17:19but the accommodation for personnel is distinctly poor.
17:21The landing craft tank wasn't in any way a joy to sail.
17:26The flat-bottom and the lack of a keel
17:28meant that they're constantly pitching and rolling in rough seas.
17:32Even their best sailors, who had spent years at sea,
17:35were still being violently sick.
17:38Ralph's role as ship's signaller
17:40meant he was responsible for all communications,
17:43using semaphore, Morse code lamps and signal flags.
17:48Up there, Grandad.
17:50Is that where you'd have been?
17:52Up on the bridge?
17:53I would have been at the bridge, yes.
17:55Yeah.
17:56I couldn't show you.
17:58You want to get up there?
17:59And tell you what's up.
18:00Well, I couldn't tell you...
18:02I'm not getting you up there.
18:04..tell you what's up in, can't you?
18:06When we get up there.
18:09Grandad.
18:10Fortunately, using a pair of walkie-talkies and a TV,
18:13Ralph can give Vicky a full guided tour
18:16without going up anywhere.
18:17Sailor, 952, is that you?
18:21Do you, Roger?
18:23Well, that's the plan.
18:24You just go through the door and...
18:27Press your button, Grandad.
18:29Oh, yes.
18:31Follow me up here, Grandad.
18:32Does this feel familiar here?
18:35Yes, that's like our quarters.
18:38Rough, but...
18:40Yeah.
18:40Rough.
18:40Yeah, rough, but enough.
18:42That's a great saying.
18:45There'd been very little thought given
18:47to accommodating the crew on these small vessels,
18:50the primary purpose of it being the tank deck.
18:52So they managed to squeeze them into a little bit of space
18:55just behind the engine room,
18:57which was, of course, very cramped, very damp and very noisy.
19:01Right, I'm going up, Grandad.
19:02Give us a wave.
19:04Yeah, we're there on the bridge.
19:07Aye, aye, Captain.
19:08When I see, there will be the skipper up there,
19:15the first lieutenant.
19:17I'd be there as a signalman.
19:20There was no BT, whatever you call it, on those days.
19:24You had to do it by flags and signals.
19:27Got you, Roger that.
19:29Are these the flags that you would have been using to signal?
19:33Yes, different flags.
19:35All right, different manoeuvres.
19:39Wow.
19:40There's some big guns here.
19:43They're guns either side or Ehrlichons.
19:48Ehrlichons were 20mm anti-aircraft cannons,
19:52and an LCT usually had two of them.
19:54Did you ever operate them?
19:58I did when we encanted a Germany boat.
20:04Right, I'm heading downstairs, Grandad, to a different deck.
20:08I'm going in this little doorway.
20:10Oh, I found the wheel to the ship, Grandad.
20:13Oh.
20:13Have you got the wheelhouse?
20:17I've got the wheelhouse.
20:19That would be the coxswain that would be at the wheel.
20:23This is like a weird version of Crystal Maze and Challenge Annika,
20:28all sort of matched into one.
20:30I'm at a little bedroom now.
20:32All over the skipper's quarters.
20:35Yeah, it's nice.
20:36It's got a comfy bed.
20:37It does look like there's a few more stars on this room.
20:47I'm just stood here, and it's absolutely taking my breath away
20:51at how big it is and how high it is,
20:54and just the thought of this being in the sea under gunfire.
21:00Just incredible bravery of you and all of those with you on the ship.
21:05Just doing a job, aren't we?
21:10Just doing a job, Grandad.
21:13I mean, just doing a job.
21:21Does it feel strange that you've been back on the ship at 97 years old?
21:27Oh, crikey.
21:28Can you believe it?
21:29Don't it? No, it can't.
21:31Next, Ralph and his granddaughter head off to test his sea legs properly.
21:38He's changing the flag.
21:41You've done that a few times.
21:43Yeah.
21:44Aiming to retrace Ralph's journey across the channel
21:46and into the middle of a battle.
21:49It was like a hell of a ghost.
21:51Oh, this is nice, Grandad, isn't it?
22:05Yes.
22:05Do you want the ship?
22:08Actor Vicky McClure is learning about the part
22:11her 97-year-old grandfather, Ralph McClure,
22:14played on the most important single day of the Second World War.
22:17The seaborne invasion of northern France, known as D-Day.
22:23Right now, the two of them are on a ferry to Normandy.
22:28Does it feel nice being back on the water?
22:31Yeah, it's lovely.
22:33They're headed for the same beach where Ralph's landing craft
22:36delivered its payload of Sherman tanks under heavy fire
22:39almost 80 years ago.
22:41What was it like when you set off to France all those years ago?
22:48Well, we knew it was on.
22:50Yeah.
22:52Soon we're going to over the better sort of thing.
22:56The sea was very rough and very choppy.
23:00Did you feel more excited or scared?
23:03Well, neither, really.
23:06I wondered what to...
23:09What do I expect?
23:12Are you cold?
23:13No, I'm all right.
23:14Yeah.
23:15Yeah, fresh air.
23:16Yeah.
23:17The sea air.
23:19Ooh.
23:22Breathe it in.
23:23Lovely.
23:26D-Day was the most ambitious, amphibious,
23:29and airborne assault ever attempted in the history of warfare.
23:32And before Vicky jumped on the ferry,
23:37she met up with naval historian Stephen Fisher
23:40to see for herself the scale of the D-Day operation
23:43in a very special room.
23:45This is it, Suffolk House, just outside Portsmouth,
23:48and this is probably the most important bit
23:51of the headquarters for D-Day,
23:52and this is the map room.
23:53This is probably the main room where everything was planned from
23:57for the invasion of Europe.
23:59Incredible.
23:59I can't believe this is made out of wood.
24:03Yeah, it's actually made by a toy company.
24:04Oh, really?
24:05Chad's Valley Toys came along and assembled this in here.
24:08They're highly secretive.
24:10And there's so much detail to be had from this map as well.
24:13It's timed as it was exactly at 7.25 on June the 6th,
24:17so you can see the exact layout, where all of the forces were.
24:21Yeah, and where my grandad landed.
24:23Yeah.
24:23What do some of these things mean?
24:28Like, do you know?
24:30Yes, so these all depict the various landing groups.
24:36The American forces would land at Utah and Omaha.
24:39The British would attack gold.
24:41Canadians at Juneau.
24:43And the British again at the beach where Ralph was assigned, sword.
24:47One of the keys to the success of D-Day is actually the Solent,
24:52this body of water between the south coast of England and the Isle of Wight.
24:56It's an ideal place to assemble your fleet
24:59and leave them at anchor whilst they wait for the order to sail.
25:03Almost all of the British and Canadian forces were assembled in the Solent.
25:07Except for one part of Thorcess, which sails from New Haven,
25:13including your grandfather, Ralph.
25:15Wow, so that's where he left.
25:16Yeah.
25:17Right, wow.
25:18That's part I didn't know.
25:20And all these arrows, are these establishing each boat?
25:24So each one of these individual markers shows a convoy.
25:28Each one of these little tags can signify 40 or 50 vessels.
25:32Yeah.
25:33Aircraft overhead the whole time.
25:35And all of that being operated right here where we're stood.
25:39Everything eventually leads back to this map.
25:42So which one's my grandad's convoy?
25:45We can actually trace your grandfather's journey quite easily
25:47from New Haven down to the C2A buoy.
25:52And then along through this swept minefield to EA3 buoy,
25:56where they turned left and followed this red line down.
25:59And there's two lanes to Sword Beach.
26:02Is this these two?
26:03That's right, yes.
26:05Which go through this German minefield.
26:07This is swept route number nine and swept route number ten.
26:11And your grandfather joined number nine,
26:14the slower lane down here.
26:16Wow.
26:18Fascinating, isn't it?
26:19I mean, for a historian, it's...
26:21Oh, for me, this is just a work of art and gold dustings.
26:26It's a work of art for me.
26:27I've never seen anything like it.
26:28It's a massive and absolutely brilliant monument,
26:32the planning behind D-Day.
26:36Ralph's convoy took around 22 hours to cross the channel
26:39to Sword Beach, near the town of Wiestrom.
26:42Ralph and Vicky's ferry has only taken a fraction of that time.
26:52But it's now approaching the Normandy coast
26:54on an almost identical heading.
26:56Don't forget we are going in to a landing.
27:01I will be on the bridge.
27:05And you will be like that.
27:08So you won't see much of where you were dropping them.
27:11The very first landing craft went in on Sword at 7.25am
27:17to establish a beachhead.
27:21Ralph's flotilla, with its cargo of tanks,
27:24was waiting offshore.
27:26We will have dropped anchor a long way from the shore.
27:31We would have to wait for the signal for the beach.
27:34Yeah.
27:35When they said beach, it was going.
27:37As signaller, Ralph would have been the first man on his craft
27:42to know this was it.
27:44They were going in.
27:50If I and describe to me what it had looked like back then.
27:55We wouldn't see a deal of it.
27:57Because you're down...
27:59Oh, we're doing this again.
28:00You're down being fired at us as you went in.
28:03On the beach, it was all the mine
28:09and these constructions that were doing anything
28:13to damage the bottom of your boat and that.
28:16Yeah.
28:18I mean, it was all at these houses.
28:21That's where the snipers were.
28:26Explosives dropped on the sea and then it exploded.
28:29Did it come close to you?
28:31Oh, they did a load of damage to different things.
28:37Just concentrated on getting the tanks in.
28:41Yeah.
28:44What did you expect would be on the beach when you got there?
28:50Well...
28:52Trouble.
28:53The DJ landings faced heavy and dogged resistance.
29:02Over 4,400 Allied soldiers were killed on that first day.
29:12Well, we're about to dock, Grandad.
29:15Shall we head to the beaches?
29:16Yes, by all means.
29:19Yeah.
29:20Oh, it's a beautiful day as well.
29:24Yeah, wonderful.
29:26And when they get to the beach,
29:28they'll know exactly where to go,
29:30thanks to Stephen.
29:32I've been doing some research on your grandfather's flotilla
29:35and their role on D-Day
29:36and managed to turn up some photographs
29:37of your grandfather's landing craft.
29:39Oh, wow, so this is it.
29:41This is it.
29:42This is LCT-952, yeah.
29:43That's it.
29:44And this one, I think,
29:45is probably taken up in Scotland during training.
29:49It could well be your grandfather, Ralph.
29:52Stood on the bridge just up here.
29:54It's so annoying that you can't...
29:56I want to do that.
29:57I want to zoom in.
29:59Technology's ruined it.
30:00On D-Day, the skies above Normandy
30:04were full of aircraft providing aerial cover,
30:07but amongst them were reconnaissance planes,
30:10and one of those seems to have spent
30:12a fair bit of time directly over Ralph's flotilla.
30:15And there's a whole sequence of pictures
30:17depicting your grandfather's flotilla coming ashore.
30:20Great pictures.
30:21Look at these.
30:22You can see their load.
30:24You can see the vehicles on the tank deck.
30:27And they're tanks.
30:27So this is 99% certainly your grandfather's flotilla
30:32waiting for their instruction to go into the beach.
30:34Wow.
30:37Fascinating.
30:38And then these are in even more detail.
30:41You can actually see the individual tanks
30:43coming off the landing craft.
30:45Oh, yeah, you can see all...
30:46Oh, great.
30:47But look at the number of vehicles.
30:48It's like ants, isn't it?
30:50Yeah.
30:51This is proper Piccadilly Circus stuff now.
30:53That's a breathtaking photo.
30:57Next, almost 80 years after he landed here on D-Day,
31:04Ralph wants to revisit the beach
31:05where he played his part in making history.
31:08It was like hell let go.
31:12And then pay his respects to those who, unlike him,
31:16never got the chance to come back here
31:18with their grandchildren.
31:21I feel very lucky.
31:23Why?
31:24Because I'm here with you.
31:27I'm getting emotional myself, yeah.
31:30Vicky McClure and her grandfather,
31:45D-Day veteran, Ralph McClure,
31:47are in France.
31:50They're near the small town of Wiestrom
31:52on the Normandy coast.
31:54And Ralph is looking dapper.
31:56How are you feeling today?
31:58Fine, yes.
31:59Good meal last night.
32:01Oh, lovely meal.
32:03Good night's sleep.
32:04Yeah.
32:05Ready for the break.
32:08Well, we're starting here today, Grandad.
32:10They're on the beach where 80 years ago
32:13Ralph's landing craft came ashore
32:15in the first waves of the D-Day landings.
32:18How does it feel
32:22looking out to sea,
32:24being back at Sword Beach?
32:27It's hard to, er,
32:30hard to equate it.
32:35All that water around there
32:37was absolutely full
32:39of materials,
32:42boats,
32:44troop carriers and whatever.
32:46Yeah.
32:46A bit noisier than this.
32:53It was like
32:54hell let loose.
32:57To be honest,
32:59you've got that much
33:01to do with your own ship
33:03and your own job,
33:06you hadn't got time
33:07to look around.
33:08No.
33:12Well, I can show you this.
33:14Yes.
33:14So I'm thinking
33:16if this is that road behind us,
33:19your ship would have been
33:20over here somewhere.
33:22Yes, it was one of those four.
33:25Yeah.
33:27While unloading their cargo of tanks,
33:30Ralph and his shipmates
33:31were sitting targets
33:32for the Germans.
33:33There was one or two houses.
33:38They'd all got these human snipers in.
33:42Shot at me when I,
33:44when I come down the,
33:45down the ladders.
33:49Look at these,
33:51ping, ping, ping, ping, ping.
33:53When I realised what it was,
33:55dashed straight to where the tanks had been,
33:58into the well deck.
33:59I can't touch you there, of course.
34:02No, I can't get you there.
34:06Are you proud of what you did here, Grandad?
34:09Well,
34:11I think I ought to be now.
34:14I should...
34:15Yes, I am.
34:15Yeah.
34:17And you're here now,
34:18at 97 years old,
34:20suited, booted,
34:21with your medals on.
34:23Yes.
34:24Amazing.
34:24I'm so proud of you, Grandad.
34:26I'm so grateful.
34:28Don't you,
34:29don't you get me embarrassed as well.
34:33And it appears,
34:35Vicky isn't the only one
34:36who's proud of her Grandad.
34:38Oh, he's giving you a thumbs up, Grandad.
34:41Yeah, you.
34:42This gentleman's saying thank you.
34:4444.
34:45He was.
34:46This is my Grandad, Ralph.
34:48It touched my heart.
34:49You cannot imagine how much.
34:52I'm sorry.
34:53To meet you
34:55touches my heart
34:57very deeply.
34:59I was born just after
35:01the war,
35:03and I wouldn't be
35:05on earth today
35:06without people like you.
35:10From the depth of my heart.
35:14May I have the pleasure
35:15of shaking your hand?
35:17No.
35:19Thank you very much.
35:21A lot of emotion.
35:22That made me cry, Grandad.
35:29You ruined my make-up.
35:30Yeah.
35:31Yeah.
35:31Yeah.
35:36Let's take a picture.
35:37Right.
35:38You salute.
35:39Give me a salute.
35:40That's it.
35:41Oh, my heart is just bursting.
35:51After D-Day, Ralph's landing craft LCT952
35:55was assigned to work on loading supplies
35:58a few miles west of Sword Beach
36:00at Aramoges at Aramoges at the extraordinary Mulberry Harbour.
36:06Mulberry Harbour is one of these fantastic inventions that comes out of wartime.
36:11A deepwater port was vital to land troops and equipment and replenish supplies as the Allies
36:18pushed further inland.
36:19But the existing ports on the French coast were too well defended.
36:24They were the gateways into the continent.
36:27But the Germans knew it.
36:29Hold the ports, they said, and we hold Europe.
36:32The only way to obtain a deep-draft port was actually to take one with us
36:37and to prefabricate a port on the south coast of England
36:43and tow it in sections across the English Channel
36:46and assemble it on the French coast.
36:48Surrounding the port were dozens of huge concrete structures
36:52weighing up to 6,000 tonnes,
36:55protecting the port from rough seas and storms.
36:58The great mass of concrete slowly settled down on the ocean bed,
37:03forming a great wall against the sea.
37:07Incredibly, the port was fully operational just 12 days after D-Day.
37:12And the remnants of the concrete harbour wall
37:17are still visible surrounding Aramarch.
37:20I didn't realise that the Morbury Harbour was as wide as this.
37:24Really?
37:25So it looks a lot bigger now?
37:27Mind you.
37:28There's a bit of a pull-up of stuff in that.
37:30Yeah.
37:31As well as unloading onto massive floating piers,
37:35huge, mostly American, supply ships
37:37would unload onto landing craft like Ralph's
37:40to get their cargo ashore.
37:42They'd be unloading their own ship onto ours.
37:46They used to come to us and have a tin like,
37:50sugar, you know, do you want to pack it?
37:54Chocolate, Morse bars, whatever you wanted.
37:58Well, we got nothing like that to board, but lovely.
38:03This is where you saw Winston Churchill, isn't it?
38:07Down there?
38:08Yes, I was, I'd be up on the bridge with the ship's binoculars,
38:14watching him like.
38:16He came ashore in his usual car,
38:20and he's driving along,
38:23and he's still got his cigar in his mouth,
38:26and they were a little stump, like that.
38:32And he picked it up his mouth and threw it out the car,
38:37just like that.
38:38Yeah.
38:39Oh, I don't know, what would it be?
38:4215 or 20 soldiers dived into the sand,
38:47scraping round the sand,
38:48trying to get it over as a souvenir.
38:51Did anyone get it?
38:53I should imagine it's probably still there.
38:55After his six-week service at Mulberry Harbour,
39:01Ralph returned to the UK
39:02and said goodbye to LCT 952 for good.
39:07He left the Navy after the war ended
39:09and moved back to Nottingham to become a butcher again.
39:12He married Vicky's gran, Jean, in 1948.
39:18They had three kids, five grandchildren,
39:21and so far, six great-grandchildren.
39:27Those who weren't as lucky as Ralph
39:29are remembered here,
39:31at the British Normandy Memorial.
39:33It bears all 22,442 names of the men and women
39:39who died under British command
39:42on D-Day and in the Battle of Normandy.
39:46Oh, bless.
39:47Everybody's names are there.
39:49I'll look for a name.
39:52Ralph's looking for the name of a friend
39:54from another landing craft,
39:56which beached right alongside his.
39:58A friend of mine that was on the next LCT
40:05and as we're turning,
40:08he's standing on the quarter deck.
40:11I said, I'm ready for a fight.
40:13He says, oh, we'll have more than one
40:16when we get home.
40:19And that's when a shell dropped on the ship
40:22and there was a big flash where they were standing.
40:28And I never find out whether he killed him or not.
40:34What was his name?
40:36Mealy, we called him.
40:39He came from Leeds.
40:41Well, we'll look for him.
40:46Now they're in alphabetical order.
40:49That helps us a bit, doesn't it?
40:53They're his name, isn't they?
40:56Yeah, there's some M's here.
40:58It's not this one, is it?
41:01Wait there.
41:05No.
41:06No?
41:06No.
41:09No, that one didn't.
41:13How old was he?
41:15He was the same age as me.
41:1818, I think.
41:19The name of Ralph's old pal is not on the memorial,
41:24which hopefully means he survived D-Day.
41:27We'll have to track him down.
41:30Yes, I'll try, but...
41:32I won't get nowhere.
41:42There were so many, weren't there.
41:45This is amazing.
41:48Isn't it?
41:49All of us.
41:50Amazing what they've done in memory.
41:54Amazing.
42:01I believe it.
42:06It's making me cry.
42:08Sorry?
42:09It's making me cry.
42:11Is it?
42:12Yeah.
42:14I felt embarrassed.
42:16The thing is, crying on documentaries like this
42:18make it seem like you've been given a tear stick
42:20because it's like, oh, this'll, you know,
42:23it's just hit me like...
42:24It's hit me like a ton of bricks, really.
42:27And I'm like...
42:28It's incredible.
42:34It's the most beautiful place ever, isn't it?
42:36Beautiful.
42:40This place is a very unique place.
42:42It's the most peaceful place I've ever been.
42:45Just seeing all the names and ages.
42:50Pretend me I was 17.
42:53Yeah.
42:54Yeah.
42:56So many names.
42:58You know, knowing now more than I did,
43:05yeah, it's hard because
43:08he's just always been my granddad.
43:12I've seen pictures around the house
43:14where he got his uniform on
43:16and, you know, definitely thought nothing of it as a kid.
43:19But if his name was on that wall,
43:23I wouldn't be here, yeah.
43:24All I can say is...
43:29I think at this stage is...
43:34Thank God I survived.
43:36Oh, granddad, you are wrecking me.
43:47This has just completely flawed me.
43:55I feel very lucky.
44:01You do?
44:02Yeah.
44:04Why?
44:05Because I'm here with you.
44:08I'm getting emotional myself, yeah.
44:10It's all right, I've got a tissue somewhere.
44:17Everyone that sees him,
44:18and obviously he's got his medals on today
44:20and he looks incredible,
44:21he looks beautiful,
44:23but they see him and they want to meet him
44:25and they want to shake his hand.
44:28Lovely to meet you.
44:29And you too, sir.
44:30Good to see you.
44:32Pleased to shake your hand.
44:34And I hope that I can be half as good as you
44:37when I'm half your age.
44:38Absolutely.
44:41Thanks very much.
44:42You're looking very well.
44:43And everyone I have seen that has approached him
44:46has got emotional,
44:47and they don't know him.
44:48Thank you so much.
44:49Yes.
44:51Pleasure to meet you.
44:54There's not many people left to thank.
44:57Go on, you read it.
45:00We shall go on to the end.
45:03We shall fight in France.
45:06We shall fight on the seas and oceans.
45:10We shall fight with loving confidence in the air
45:13to defend our island, whatever the cost.
45:18We shall fight on the beaches.
45:21We shall fight on the landing grounds.
45:25We shall fight in the fields
45:27and in the streets.
45:31We shall fight in the hills.
45:36We shall never surrender.
45:38And if you've been affected by the issues in this programme,
45:50you can go to itv.com slash advice for support information.
45:54Next, the ITV News at 10.
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