San Francisco Frontiers - UK D-Day vets sail for Normandy for landings anniversary

John Mines, 99, was amongst the first wave of soldiers to go ashore in Normandy as part of the biggest naval operation ever in terms of the number of ships deployed and the troops involved.

By the end of what became known as "the longest day", 156,000 Allied troops with 20,000 vehicles had landed in Nazi-occupied northern France despite facing a hail of bullets, artillery and aircraft fire.

"If I could go again, I would go again. I'm glad we sacrificed so that others (could) have a good life," told AFP. "It wasn't me, they're all heroes."

Mines is one of 29 D-Day veterans -- 20 from the Royal British Legion and nine from the Spirit of Normandy Trust organisations -- who boarded a ferry Tuesday in England's Portsmouth bound for Ouistreham on the French side of the Channel.

Nearly 80 years ago, soldiers made the same journey on June 6, 1944 for the operation which became known as D-Day.

Three months before the launch of D-Day, Mines was called up for military service at 19.

"I got picked because of my surname!" he said.

Mines's first mission, along with other soldiers, was to clear Gold Beach of its hazards.

"I was lucky, very very lucky," Mines said facing the Channel -- where so many of his fellow soldiers were killed.

"If you got caught off by a machine gun you were cut in two pieces. A mate of mine that came ashore with me died like that soon after we landed," he added.

- 'Pay their respects' -

Walking onto the deck of the vessel under a greyish sky, the veterans, of which several are over 100-years-old, were greeted by bagpipers.

Passengers on the upper deck paid their respects to the group of former soldiers.

As the D-Day survivors departed the ferry, two fireboats sprayed water at the boat while warships docked at the military base sounded sirens with their personnel standing to attention.

A Royal Air Force A400M made several overflights to mark the occasion.

"Making sure that they can pay their respects to their comrades is our primary purpose and make sure the legacy of what they did in 1944 will not be forgotten," said Mark Waring, the vice-president of the Spirit of Normandy Trust.

- 'Too painful' -

During the ceremony, a wreath was thrown overboard by two veterans to the sound of an orchestra -- which left some spectators in tears.

Joyce Cooper, the 70-year-old daughter of a D-Day veteran, told AFP that her father didn't want to go to war but was sent draft papers in 1942 when he was 18.

"My father Alan landed in a floating tank on Sword Beach in Lion-sur-Mer, they had been told they had one hour to live," she said, adding that her father's tank commander died in his arms during the Battle of Normandy.

"He didn't talk about it till he was forty. He couldn't. It was too painful, really painful. He really suffered inside," she said.

Z.Sanchez--SFF