WWII Reenacting:
Gold Beach 60 Years On - Living History at Normandy for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day.

Gold Beach
60 Years On

By: Rob M., 3rd Para Bde. (NWHA)

This June was the 60th Anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy in 1944. This year's ceremonies were especially poignant, as it is felt they were the last major ceremony in which the veterans themselves would participate in large numbers. Security was unimaginably high, with a number of heads-of-state attending in the same small area, including George W. Bush, Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schroeder, Alexander Putin, and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Reenacted British infantry in full kit after a patrol.
Reenacted British infantry in full kit after a patrol.

Over a year of planning by the Gold Beach 60 Years On group went into this once-in-a-lifetime event. The Gold Beach group made arrangements with the village of Ver-sur-Mer to create a living history camp in the village. Ver-sur-Mer, with a population of around 1500 people, is directly off of the Gold Beach landing areas. It is just east Arromanches, the site of the one of the large 'Mulberry' man-made, floating harbors.

Four members of the NWHA made the trip over to take part in the living history displays on Gold Beach. We attended as part of a Regimental Aid Post (medical post). This allowed us to attend without the worry over restrictions on firearms.

The group we attended with included our CO and doctor, a chaplain, and an ambulance driver with an original Ford medical truck. Our activities were continuous throughout each day of the displays. Several orderlies occupied a slit trench with the infantry and accompanied them on patrols through the village and surrounding fields. Our doctor at the Field Hospital tent demonstrated the substantial array of period medical kit to the visitors, and attended to 'casualties'.

French school kids take a turn on the 'front lines'.
French schoolkids take a turn on the 'front lines'.

The UK members of the RAMC group really went out of their way to help us, from loaning items of kit that we needed, to providing essentials such as tents (and tea). In fact, the help, generosity, and welcome we received from all the other participants was really beyond praise. The French populace was also very supportive. Food and drink were liberally plied to us during the event and while on patrol around the camp. We were given several wonderful dinners by residents of the village, and on the last day a full buffet and dance.

Attendance at the Gold Beach camp was limited to the historically correct units that had originally been at that location in 1944. Approximately 90 participants and 20 vehicles from a range of units and impressions attended. This included an artillery unit, signalers with two radio trucks, reconnaissance with an armored car, infantry, anti-aircraft, a field kitchen, intelligence and ATS units. All wore the badges of the British 50th Division (Tyne Tees). This allowed for a fantastic grouping of the various services that made up an all-arms combat unit in WWII, while still maintaining the cohesion of a single impression.

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Other activities in the camp included such things as building defensive positions, drill, weapons training, patrols, operating a short wave radio link back to the UK, and a staffed field office with telephone links to the various camp outposts.

On Sunday, June 6th, the participants took the day as personal time. A soccer game was arranged between the village locals and the members of the living history camp. With both age and skill against us we resorted to a series of brilliant military maneuvers, including sandbagging the goal and bringing the dispatch rider onto the field. On the final day a service was held to remember those who gave their lives that day in June '44.

The security resources dedicated to the ceremonies were notable. The Royal Navy and Marine Francaise stationed fleets just off the coast, including aircraft carriers. Seeing the lines of destroyers patrolling in the setting sun against the backdrop of the beaches and cliffs was breath taking. There were thousands of French policemen and soldiers, and a great many British troops, patrolling the roads and manning checkpoints. Military helicopters were continuously criss-crossing the beaches, and the air forces of the NATO nations put in a dramatic and large fly-by. And yet despite the obviously heavy presence the French authorities were universally welcoming, friendly and helpful.

"We had over 7,500 visitors over the four days of the event, with most of them on Friday 4th and Saturday 5th. Fifty plus veterans were included in that number - some from as far away as Canada, the USA and New Zealand.

The moving, respectful and immaculate way that those present conducted the Service of Remembrance on Sunday morning, in front of a crowd of locals, visitors and veterans. I was so proud of them all. I've certainly worked with reserve units who couldn't have done it so well. Including, of course, Bob's excellent portrayal of the chaplain."

- Geoff L. (Adjutant, Gold Beach Camp)

Part of the medical duties we had was to man a forward aid post with the infantry of the Hampshire Regiment reenactors, who had set up a platoon defensive position with slit trenches and sandbags. The infantry sent out patrols through camp and the surrounding village and fields. These provided a real sense of history, walking in tactical formation and in period uniform through the Norman scenery, seeing the beaches and the German casements. It was a truly irreplaceable experience for the military and historical enthusiast.

"We met so many vets, heard their stories, saw the pain in their eyes in the retelling of lost buddies, and pride that they were a part of D-Day. It was amazing.

There were a couple of times walking down the cobble stone streets, with no real reminders of the modern day, and the infantry ahead of us. It could have been 1944 the way it looked."

- Bob H. (NWHA)

We also had the great fortune to be invited to join a full-kit march on the 6th with the Hamps. At dawn on the anniversary we marched the seven miles west into Arromanches, where we joined several thousand spectators for the Queen's speech and a review of the veterans. We passed through several villages that were liberated by this very regiment on D-Day. We met many vets in Arromanches, where our uniforms and kit were a real draw for the crowds. At the end of the day we were lucky enough to by chance be reviewed by the Queen as her motorcade left the town, and as always she had a brilliant smile and waved as she passed. We returned around midnight, very tired from the heat and distance, and nursed our sore feet.

It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and well worth the great deal of planning and of course expense involved. We each brought back many memories of the friends we made and the incredible event we attended.

Please see the following pages for photos from the 60th Anniversary of D-Day.