Frank

The man walking at the front is Mr K's Grandad. This picture is in a D-Day book Mr K's mum gave me showing his Commando unit resting on a lane near Caen. I actually know very little about him - he died when Mr K was at university - but watching all the wonderful D-Day coverage today has made me determined to find out more. 
It's also made me determined to actually be in Normandy on D-Day again like we were a few years ago. We always have to come home a few days before to get back to school and work!
It was funny seeing all the places on TV where we were just a few days ago. My mum messaged me last night from Pegasus Bridge - they were there at Midnight - seventy five years to the minute since the first gliders landed and took the bridge. Beginning the liberation.
I think Mr K's granddad - Frank - was involved in the battle for Caen which was expected to take days but took months. He was a sniper and ended up trapped in a barn behind enemy lines. I wish, wish, wish he was still around to talk to and tell us first hand accounts. But, like so many, he never talked about it. Just coming home and getting on with life.
That's why the coverage today was so amazing - so many veterans sharing their stories and memories, remembering their mates, re-living that unimaginable day and those unimaginable months that followed.
I watched Jim Radford on The One Show tonight singing his Shores of Normandy with tears pouring down my face. He was a 15 year old galley boy on his first trip to sea.  He's 90 now but you can see the memories taking over as he sings. Incredibly moving. 
Proceeds are going to the Normandy Memorial Trust  to complete a memorial to the 22,442 soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who died fighting under British command during D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. Unbelievably we don't have one yet!! Definitely a good cause!