D-Day veteran 'escaped death many times'

Billy Reynolds was one of thousands of men held in reserve to reinforce the early landings on D-Day

Across the UK and France, two days of events are taking place to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.

The landings were the largest seaborne invasion in history with troops from the UK, the USA, Canada, and France attacking German forces on the beaches at Normandy in northern France on 6 June, 1944.

Jersey-raised Billy Reynolds, who lived until he was 100, escaped death many times during the war.

In an interview with the BBC before his death in 2023, he said he would never forgot the devastation he saw.

Billy said he made regular trips back to the battlefields with other members of the Normandy Veterans Association

As soon as he was of military age, Billy joined the army with his brothers as a driver towing heavy guns and ammunition with the Royal Army Service Corps.

Recognising his skills behind the wheel, the army trained him to drive all kinds of vehicles - from motorbikes to DUKWs.

He was testing one of these in the Solent when an aircraft accidentally dropped a torpedo right above them and it missed by inches.

As D-Day approached, he was one of thousands of men held in reserve to reinforce the early landings.

'Terribly nerve-wracking'

He was responsible for training his unit to waterproof their vehicle ready to land; in the event, his was the only one to founder as it came in to Gold beach towards the end of June 1944 before they made their way inland.

Billy said: "As we came in I remember there was this destroyer with its bows just poking out of the water.

"All around its bows were the dead bodies of the sailors... it was terribly nerve-wracking actually.

"The noise was terrific."

Billy was responsible for training his unit to waterproof their vehicle ready to land

On one occasion Billy was in a farmyard when an enemy shell hit the ground next to him, span through the wet bank and flew off and exploded.

He said: "We went to a farmhouse that was all smashed up and got a couple of doors, there was a German slit trench.

"We put the doors over the slit trench and put the ground on top, we'd no sooner finished that then the bombers came in.

"I heard the scream of the bombs and I knew by the scream that those bombs were for me... but not one went off."

Billy said six of them did not detonate.

"I had one bomb about two feet from me, and another about four feet away, we couldn't get out of our trenches because all the trucks around the orchard were on fire."

After weeks of fighting, the German line collapsed and Caen was taken.

Billy said he never forgot the devastation he saw.

'Horrific shelling'

Afterwards he was in the Allied spearhead pushing the Germans into the chaos of the Falaise Gap.

He said: "There was horrific, horrific shelling and bombing, the destruction of the German army was terrible, dead German soldiers everywhere.

"It was upsetting, really."

Billy was always proud of his service and was one of the earliest members of Jersey's Normandy Veterans Association - making regular trips back to the battlefields.

He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by France and wore his medals in honour of the men he served with but did not survive.