First Lieutenant Brian Carter, aged 18, from Swavesey.

Less than a year after joining the Navy, First Lieutenant Brian Carter, aged just 18, found himself on a leaking ship heading for Normandy.

Many of the young soldiers alongside him had never seen a shot fired in anger.

So, it was with some trepidation Lt Carter took part in the opening plan for Operation Overload.

Recalling the nightmare journey, on board the American Mark V landing craft, Brian told The Hunts Post in an interview in 1994, the ship was leaking and the engines kept breaking down.

“We had to bail out the water with a bucket because the pump broke down.”

The ship crept towards Utah beach in a blanket of darkness.

After landing, Brian says he noticed a hole in part of the armour on the ship’s bridge. He realised a shell had hit the vessel.

“The shell was rolling around at my feet and I could only imagine that because of the noise and the exhausted state of many of the men, we had not heard the shell hit.”  

“Once we reached the beach, the loading and unloading went on day and night.

“Many men were walking around like zombies, many had not slept for seven days, but we had been told to ‘stop for nothing’.”