Linking the past with the present
The members of the Torpoint branch delve into the past to discover their links with Normandy and Operation Overlord during WWII
Last November, six members of the Torpoint Club – ex-servicemen and members of the RBL Remembrance Sunday Working Party – planned a trip to visit the cemeteries of Normandy.
The numbers increased to nine including one serving Royal Navy submariners and two civilians. On the 19 November the party left Torpoint bound for a three-day trip. They took nine wreaths from various associations and a number of poppy crosses to lay in some of the 27 cemeteries in the area. During the trip, by coincidence, it became apparent that all the cemeteries visited had poignant connections to Torpoint.
In the Ouistreham area of East Normandy lies the village of Ranville and the Ranville War Cemetery which is approximately 2km from Pegasus Bridge, famous as the bridge taken by the 6th Airborne Division on 6 June 1944. When the first three Horsa Gliders landed close to Pegasus Bridge on the south side of the Caen Canal, their objective was to seize the vital bridges over the River Orme and the Caen Canal. In one of those Gliders, a survivor of the landings, was Harry Webber from Millbrook who was serving with the Devon & Dorset Regiment.
Following in the footsteps of Harry Webber, who 64 years earlier had paid a visit to Pegasus Bridge under totally different circumstances, our party visited the War Grave Cemetery at Ranville. This was the first of the Commonweath War Graves Commission (CWGC) we were to visit. We were there to pay homage to the many Airborne Troops who died during that battle and who are remembered by rows and rows of headstones.
On Gold Beach, between Le Hamel and La Riviera, soldiers of the 50th (Northumberland) Division landed to advance and capture Arromanches. By early afternoon all four brigades were ashore and pressing forward but not without many casualties. The cemetery at Ryes contains the headstones of those killed during and after the landing.
The incident connecting Torpoint with the Ryes War Cemetery came about the week after the Torpoint 2008 Remembrance Sunday Service and parade. When the 280 poppy crosses were lifted from the Elliot Square Garden of Remembrance, we discovered in among the donated ones was a single cross bearing the handwritten name: Gunner Michael Picker. R.A. Age 23. Died 27/6/44
A search through the CWGC website told us that the headstone of Gunner Michael Picker was located in the RYES War Cemetery. As a fitting gesture a Poppy Cross was carried by Joe Plant to the cemetery where his headstone was located.
Normandy American Cemetry Colleville-Sur-Mer
Upon entry to the American Cemetery we had to remove any metal objects on our persons, be searched, and proceed through a metal detector before being allowed into the visitor’s centre. Some of us thought that this highlighted what a sad state the world that we live in has now become.
The size of the American War Cemetery is quite staggering and is difficult to visualize. After leaving the visitors' entrance, the walkway is similar to strolling through a park along side the Omaha Beach where the Americans landed on D-Day. An enamel plaque overlooking the beach shows the Americans landing at Omaha Beach.
On either side there are two vestibules: North and South. The interior South side wall is a map engraved in stone and embellished with coloured enamels entitled: ‘The landings on the Normandy beaches and the development of the beach head.’
If you are standing at the monument at the stroke of 11 o’clock, the American bells ring a mournful chime disturbing the silence of the cemetery until the last tone fades away. Among the thousands of crosses are those of Technical Sergeant Preston T. Niland and 2nd Lieutenant Robert J. Niland. The two brothers are featured in the film Saving Private Ryan. The name ‘Ryan’ is fictitious but the film is loosely based on the story of the Niland brothers.
There were four Niland brothers. Sergeant Fredrick Fritz Niland of H Company 501st Parachute Infantry and Technical Sergeant Edward Niland US Army Air Force who, prior to the D-Day Landings was a member of an American aircrew shot down during a raid over Rangoon, Burma, was captured by the Japanese and, with five others, tried to escape. Once recaptured, he and the others were savagely beaten for days. After the British 14th Army drove the Japanese south, Rangoon was recaptured and the POWs were released. Unfortunately, in a very sorry state, Sgt. Edward Niland returned to America a broken man.
The relationship between Torpoint and the American Cemetery significantly revolves around the American 29th Infantry Division. This consisted of nine battalions - three in the 115th - three in the 116th and three in the 175th. The three battalions of the 115th and 116th were encamped in the area from Torpoint down as far as Bodmin. The 1st Battalion of the 115th was located within the area of the Torpoint Urban District Council, from the grounds of the Antony House Estate as far down as Downderry and had their HQ at Tregantle Fort.
A second connection to Torpoint is a family one. Joe Plant’s wife, Annette, is the daughter of Cecil Leslie Keene, a master metal-worker employed by Morris Singer – a London metal sculpture and foundry (the same company that created the Eros statue in Piccadilly Circus) who was required to carry out work on the aforementioned Wall Maps located in the American Cemetery Monument. During his stay in France he spent six months in Arromanches.
As a fitting memory to those GIs of the 115th Infantry Battalion, a wreath with the 29th Infantry Division Badge “The Blue and Grey” was laid at the foot of the Bronze Statue by ex-REME Serviceman Joe Plant.
Upon leaving the cemetery you walk through “The garden of the missing” where – engraved on its circular walls – are the names of 1,557 missing servicemen.
The association between Torpoint and the Green Howards Regiment came about when travelling from one cemetery to another. Ex-Royal Signals Serviceman Keith Boxall noticed a sign inscribed ‘Green Howard Monument.’ Keith suggested he would like to visit the monument as during the war his father was a soldier in the regiment. This was agreed and a further trip was arranged for the visit. The details of the monument revealed that the Green Howards had, on D-Day, made a remarkable advance of some six kilometres from the beaches. Although there were a small number of CWGC headstones in the local Crepon Churchyard, all other Green Howards were buried amongst other headstones in several war cemeteries. A wreath was also laid at the foot of the monument by Keith Boxall.
In this cemetery lie small black plaques inlaid into the grass, each engraved with the names of the 21,222 German soldiers reburied from 1,440 different cemeteries within the Normandy countryside. Well spaced out between the inlaid plaques are sets of black German style crosses engraved with German lettering.
A cobbled roadway divides the cemetery from the opposite Bayeux Memorial where the names of 1,808 Commonwealth Forces are engraved on its walls. All have no known graves. Engraved on the frieze of the Memorial are the words: ‘Nos a gulielmo victi victoris patriam liberaviimus’ (We, once conquered by William, have now set free the Conqueror’s native land’).
Although there might have been several Torpoint servicemen involved in the D-Day Landings, no Torpoint servicemen are recorded as being killed in Normandy, with the exception of one Royal Navy sailor, a crew member of HMS Mourne - one of the ships engaged in the sea defence operation supporting the Normandy Landings. HMS Mourne was hit and sunk by a torpedo fired from a German U-Boat while on patrol off of the West Cortin Peninsula. During the sinking a Torpoint sailor, Ernest John Palmer, 21, was either killed or drowned. His grave is unknown but his name is commemorated on the Plymouth War Memorial.
As a fitting tribute to a son of Torpoint, Ernest John Palmer and all other Commonwealth servicemen who paid the ultimate sacrifice and are remembered in the Bayeux War Cemetery and Memorial, the laying of a wreath was undertaken by Ex-Royal Engineers serviceman Andrew Bray on behalf of the Torpoint & District Royal British Legion.
Written by Torpoint member, Joe Plant
