Islanders honour fallen of D-Day

THE war generation is heading to Normandy to honour the fallen. People who lived through the Second World War were among a group of people who left for France yesterday on a four-day Guernsey Press/ Travelscope tour of the D-Day beaches.

St Peter Port resident Graham Robert was going to pay respect to his father who was killed in action 60 years ago during the landings.

'He is lying in an unmarked grave at Bayeux,' said 64-year-old Mr Robert, who was making his fourth trip to the area.

'My mother has been before as well and was supposed to be coming on the trip but she is too ill to travel so I will be taking loads of photos to show her.

'I think it will be sad to go back again but it is also good to remember and pay your respects for the immense suffering of all those who fought.'

Mr Robert, who works as a gardener, was born just before the Germans came to Guernsey and was evacuated to England with his mother while his father went to fight for the British.

'We ended up in Stockport and all I can remember is the man with the telegram arriving. There was a lot of interest from everybody else because we knew the man would be delivering some news. It was sad to get it but I was only very young at the time.

'I have heard different stories about how he may have died but I really do not know what is true.'

St Sampson's resident Ernest Noyon, 83, lived here during the Occupation.

'I can remember that on the night of the landings, we could hear British and American planes flying overhead with the parachutists that they dropped in France. It went on all night long,' said Mr Noyon, who was living in Vale at the time.

'Of course we did not know what was happening exactly but we knew something was going on. The Germans had confiscated all the radios in the island but I had kept my wireless; however, there was no electricity so it did not work anyway.

'I got the crystal set - a home-made radio - and listened to the news and we heard about the invasion.'

Mr Noyon also wants to go back to honour those who fought in the war.

'I know plenty of people who fought; some survived and some died. I have not been before; we intended to go but the trip was cancelled. I think this will bring back many memories.'

Mr Noyon is travelling to Normandy with his daughter, Susan Liskus, and son-in-law Peter. They live in Queensland, Australia, and have incorporated the trip into a month-long return to the northern hemisphere.