Back on beach to remember those who fell

IT may well be his final journey to the scene of his greatest triumph.

- Giles Sheldrick

Richard "Dickie" Forrester, 99, took an emotional walk along the beaches of Normandy 80 years after playing a pivotal role to ensure the mighty Allied invasion was a success.

Serving with the 2nd Battalion, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, he landed on Juno beach on June 7, 1944 fighting in France, Belgium and the Netherlands before finishing the war in Hamburg.

He said: "Every year it is so important to me that we unite and make sure those who didn't return are not forgotten, and to remember and honour those who sacrificed themselves to secure and protect freedom for our generation and for generations to come." But their heroics were only made possible by an equally important band of women back home. They included Christian Lamb, now 103, and Patricia Owtram, 100, who accompanied Dickie on his pilgrimage.

Christian was posted to Whitehall at the start of 1944 to plot landingcraft maps for D-Day.

With her forensic eye she pored over large ordnance survey maps and photographs to pinpoint every part of the Normandy coastline that would be seen by the Allied armada.

So secret was her work that she kept it hidden from her Royal Navy commander husband for 50 years.