We moved to a chateau near Herouville where the weather was quite beautiful. Whilst walking through the chateau grounds I came across five or six airborne graves which were lying near the edge or a ditch. They must have been an isolated drop as they were miles off target. The chateau was quite a beauty spot and we were being kept in reserve. I was with Lt Canner, to whom I was batman, when Major Colvin approached and asked for a patrol to be sent out. We were going on a reconnaissance patrol to the village of Herouville.

Before we set off, Lt Canner recced the approach to the village on a bicycle in daylight. He cycled off down the road and came to a ‘knife rest’, which was blocking the road. This he moved out of the way and continued halting at a second knife rest. As he moved this he glanced over the hedgerow to see a startled German. He jumped back on his bike and cycled as fast as he could without a shot being fired. This was not a good start to the patrol!

We walked through the battalion area to the starting line near a standing patrol next to the canal. At that time the nights were only 4/5 hours long and we were already late. We set off down the path next to the Caen canal to the left-hand side of the village, which was overlooked by the tall chimneys of Colombelles on the other side of the water. Low and behold we came under machine gun fire from the top of the church tower. We all dropped to the path and I felt a belt in the ear. I thought I was shot in the head but time passed in rapid motion and I realised I was deaf. We all wriggled down to the canal bank and at that moment a grenade exploded decimating us. L. Cpl Donnelly and Pte Peabody were killed instantly. I was wounded in the shoulder, by shrapnel, and the officer unable to move due to a spinal injury. The other member of the patrol ran away. I did not really know what to do, so I hid in a hole by the canal edge. After staying there for a few minutes I decided nothing further was going to happen so I moved back to the waters edge to find Lt Canner. He could not feel below his buttocks and I was unable to carry him so rather than leave him I decided to float him down the canal and chucked my rifle in the water. Once I reached a position roughly adjacent to the standing patrol I beached him and left for help. Some stretcher-bearers arrived and the Lt evacuated. As I passed back to the battalion I passed through ‘C’ company and met two friends from school in a slit trench, Harry and Jim Flemming. I arrived at the RAP in the chateau and was debriefed by Major Colvin. I informed him of the Spandau in the church tower and the position on the edge of the canal. I met Jacky Lindley in the RAP and was put on a stretcher and transferred by jeep to the ADS. Whilst in the RAP we were strafed by a fighter and there were several casualties. An ambulance took us to the field hospital and we were flown back to England on a Dakota. Before take off we sat on the runway for hours and as it was a fine day I was brazed. We landed at an airport near Oxford. I learned later that a flying fortress had dropped a bomb on ‘C’ company as they advanced and caused many casualties. It was also here that Pte Simpson was wounded and run over by a tank.