D Day 75 Years On Senior Moments 162

Senior Men’s Section Member Dave Massey was a member of an Airbourne Division during WW2 Dave Massey Drops In to commemorate 75 years since the D Day Landings 06/06/1944. Dave Massey made a spectacular arrival at the Club to take part in the Senior Men’s Championship this year. Fortunately Denny Carter was there to record his approach.

6th June 1944 D Day Normandy Landings

6th Airbourne Division (United Kingdom)

The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being the 1st Airborne Division. The 6th Airborne Division was formed in World War II, in mid-1943, and was commanded by Major-General Richard N. Gale. The division consisted of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades along with the 6th Airlanding Brigade and supporting units.

The division’s first mission was Operation Tonga on 6 June 1944, D-Day, part of the Normandy landings, where it was responsible for securing the left flank of the Allied invasion during Operation Overlord. The division remained in Normandy for three months before being withdrawn in September. The division was entrained day after day later that month, over nearly a week, preparing to join Operation Market Garden but was eventually stood down. While still recruiting and reforming in England, it was mobilised again and sent to Belgium in December 1944, to help counter the surprise German offensive in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge. Their final airborne mission followed in March 1945, Operation Varsity, the second Allied airborne assault over the River Rhine.

Men from the 22nd Independent Parachute Company, the division’s pathfinders, prior to take off for Normandy 5 June 1944.

6th June 1944 D Day Normandy Landings  Corhampton GC

Seniors Celebration    arranged in 1994 by Lindsay Weaver (Seniors Captain 1994)

Letter from Lindsay Weaver ( Who sadly died 29/Oct/2018)

The 6th June 1994 was the 50th anniversary 0f the D day landings in Normandy and the whole country was organising functions to celebrate the occasion. It was decided by your Veterans committee (before we were to become known as Seniors) that we should involve ourselves in some form of celebration, particularly as the majority of our members had served in the armed services during the 1940-1945 War. As captain, I suggested a golf match between the 3 armed services and the following  members took part:-

         ROYAL NAVY                                     ARMY                                              RAF

Ted Leggett/ Ray Goode             Lindsey Weaver/John White     Bill Connor/Dave White

Mike Freemantle/Alex Newbury  Rupert Hanson/Ralph Allen      Colin Byers/Alan Smith

Ron Tugwell/A.Topley                  Alf Pearce/Arthur Peagram      Phil Farmer/L.Verrico 

Les Waterman/Riley Curtis          Danny Wellman/Ray Gibson     Jack Flint/Bill Jasper

Bill Starkie/David Hunt              Tom Prentice/J.Wardle             Geoff Gould/Geoff Swain

Basil Dicker/Don Carmichael   Bob Day/John Dallimore   Derek Williams/Derek Gibson

Norman Taylor/Doug Mitchell   Ken Beattie/Gus Ward         Andy Holland/P.Carpenter

John Unwin/John Browning          R.Hornby/F.Humby                  Gerry Corden/Val Light

The match was referred to as the ’INTERSERVICES  CHAMPIONSHIP’ and was a Better Ball  “Foursomes” – 7/8 combined handicap – Maximum 10 drives – best 6 Pairs of cards to count for each armed service.

The match was won by the Royal Navy team captained by E (Ted) Leggett with 198 points.

Lesley Smith, wife of Steward John Smith, laid on a snack lunch of Soup and a Bread Roll.

Bill Jasper, as you would expect, sent details to a number of newspapers and a piece did appear in The Chronicle on Friday 10th June 1994. Lindsay Weaver

Lindsey Weaver  Veterans (Senior’s) Captain 1994 (Lyndsey passed away 29/10/2018)

Hampshire Chronicle Friday 10th June 1994

Corhampton GC Seniors Captain Lindsey Weaver  arranged  a competition to celebrate the 50th anniversary since  the D Day landings 6th June 1944. The   competition was titled “The Interservices Championship” which took place Monday 6th June 1994 and the competition was played by 48 Senior Members arranged into 3 teams of the armed forces NAVY/ ARMY & RAF. The winning team were the Navy with a combined score of  198 points and captained by E.Leggett.

D Day Museum Portsmouth

The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France (and later Europe) from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.

Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks as the invasion planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day that meant only a few days each month were deemed suitable. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and of developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.

The amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 American, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France at 06:30. The target 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions,                particularly at Utah and Omaha. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of the beach-clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled, using specialised tanks.

The Allies failed to achieve any of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, a major objective, was not captured until 21 July. Only two of the    beaches (Juno and Gold) were linked on the first day, and all five beachheads were not connected until 12 June; however, the operation gained a foothold which the Allies gradually expanded over the coming months. German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men.                  Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead.

Museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area now host many visitors each year.

Left to Right front row Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur W Tedder, Deputy Supreme Commander, Expeditionary Force

General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Expeditionary Force

General Sir Bernard Montgomery, Commander in Chief, 21st Army Group

Left to Right Back Row Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, Commander in Chief, US 1st Army

Admiral Sir Bertram H Ramsay, Allied Naval Commander in Chief, Expeditionary Force

Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Allied Air Commander in Chief, Expeditionary Force

Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff to Eisenhower

Sword, commonly known as Sword Beach, was the code name given to one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, Operation Neptune, of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of German-occupied France that commenced on 6 June 1944. Stretching 8 kilometres from Ouistreham to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, the beach was the easternmost landing site of the invasion.

I played World War II golf – out in 39 and home in 45