How appeal in The Courier gave answers

Michael Mulford tried many times over the years to find out more about what happened but got nowhere. Even as his mother neared her passing in 1994, aged 92, she was still asking.

However, eight years ago, with the help of an appeal in The Courier, he traced Mr James Lindsay, from Angus, who had been a young boy in his family holiday cottage at Balmerino overlooking the scene. James remembered not just the gold strands on his bedroom being illuminated by searchlights but also walking the beach the next morning and finding parachutes, helmets and kit strewn along the shore. Then an elderly EX-RAF man got in touch saying he had been one of the airmen on the rescue launches.

Mr Lindsay recalled the authorities coming round insisting on a complete news clampdown.

Michael said: “Digging deeper I established that the RNLI records had been heavily censored and that the logbooks of the RAF launches held at the National Archives at Kew contained no references. What, then was the need for such total secrecy? The cover-up was deemed vital to prevent the Nazis getting any intelligence on which they could try to work out D-day details.”