I was there

Veterans who served from the land, sea and skies recall what it was truly like to fight in the tumult of D-day

Decades later, the many thousands who served on D-day are dwindling to a few, and with them their recollections of one of the most extraordinary episodes in British history. Here, in their own words, those who risked everything share what really happened on the longest day. As told to Joe Shute

RAF officer John Bell (second from right) with his crew in front of their Lancaster bomber in December 1943, just before they took off for a raid on Frankfurt