D- Day 75: Scots veterans in poignant return
● Six Scots veterans reunite with former comrades to mark 75th anniversary
John Mcowan from Peebles will join a 300- strong group of Second World War veterans making the journey to France on the 75th anniversary of the D- Day landings. Mr Mcowan, a sergeant in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, landed on the beaches in 1944.
S i x S c o t t i s h ve t e r a ns a r e today embarking on a poignant pilgrimage to the beaches of Normandy as part of the commemoration to mark the 75th anniversary of D- Day.
To honour this important milestone, Legion Scotland and Poppyscotland have commissioned a series of stunning portraits of these brave veterans to highlight their remarkable stories of that fateful day on 6 June, 1944.
The veterans were photographed by Wattie Cheung on a Graflex Super D large format film camera made in the US in the 1940s.
D- Day, codenamed Operation Overlord, the largest seaborne invasion in history that involved a naval, air and land assault by the Allies, was the beginning of the campaign to liberate German- occupied France from the Nazis.
The Scots – Ian Ritchie Fors y t h, 9 5 , f r o m Hamilto n, S outh Lanarkshire; James Churm, 94, from Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway; James “Jim” Glennie, 93, from Aberdeen; Denis Gregson, 94, from North Lanarkshire; John Mcowan, 98, from Peebles in the Scottish Borders and Charles Horne, 93, from Port Seton, East Lothian – will be part of a group of 300 D- Day veterans travelling to Bayeux in France exactly 75 years to the day since the landings.
Legion S c ot l and, Poppyscotland and the Royal British Legion have chartered the cruise ship MV Boudicca.
After setting sail from Dover tomorrow, the veterans will take centre stage at national commemorative events in Portsmouth on Wednesday before retracing their famous journey across the Channel on Thursday. Sergeant Mcowan, was an instrument mechani c who ser ved i n the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers attached to the 8th Army. Recalling the eventful day, he said: “My most vivid memory was the armada of ships lying off- shore.
“They stretched for as far as the eye could see. We waited for what seemed like an interminable amount of time before we could go on shore.
“We felt like easy targets for the Luftwaffe.
“A couple of ships were hit and we just hoped and prayed that ours would not be one of the next ones.
“For some reason, I remember that I did not even get my feet wet when we eventually came on shore as we were on landing craft vehicles.”
Mr Churm, who ser ved as a Royal Navy medic on landing craft, moving tanks from Newhaven to Sword Beach on D- Day, said his main memory was the fear of not knowing what was about to happen.
“My overriding feeling was one of terrible trepidation,” he said.
“Nobody knew what was happening until we got there. The amount of shipping in the Channel was fantastic though. Every type of vessel you could think of was there.”
Dr Claire Armstrong, chief executive of Legion Scotland, said it would be a great privilege to accompany the men.
“D - D a y w a s a p i v o t a l moment in the Second World War,” she said. “The remarkable stories of these Scottish veterans provide us with an important reminder of both the bravery and tragedy which surrounds that day.
“Legion Scotland is committed to providing comradeship for those in the armed forces community and to ensuring the memory of those who fell in service to our country is remembered forever.
“It will be an honour and a privilege to host these incredible gentlemen and to recognise the immense contribution of an entire generation.”