D-Day veteran recalls the horrors of 1944 as he celebrates his 100th birthday
A D-Day veteran said he believes all children should be taught about the sacrifices of those who took part in the Allied invasion of northern France as he celebrated his 100th birthday.
Eric Suchland remembered the horrors he witnessed after he landed on Sword Beach, as friends and family gathered to mark his special day and his 74th wedding anniversary.
On Monday, the Royal British Legion (RBL) helped Mr Suchland celebrate, providing a guard of honour at Holly Bank Care Home in Halifax, where he lives with his wife Dinah, who is 97 later this week.
Mr Suchland said he still has vivid memories of the events of 80 years ago, when he was sent to Normandy as part of a three-man signals unit to support a field ambulance brigade, who were collecting the injured and the dead.
He recalled how he could not land on D-Day itself as the commanding officer on the landing craft could not see a way through the debris and shell holes.
When he finally landed the day after, Mr Suchland told the PA news agency that the truck directly in front of them disappeared into a flooded shell hole, and he still does not know what happened to the men inside.
He said: “We were met with shell holes, mines, broken vehicles, barbed wire, snipers and dead bodies.
“The vehicle immediately ahead of us drove straight into a shell hole and disappeared so we had to find a different route onto the beach.”
He said: “There was lot of noise, gunfire, lots of German aircraft strafing us all the time.
“But I wasn’t frightened, it just didn’t register, to be honest, we didn’t know what we were getting into and just had to get on with our jobs.”
Mr Suchland described how it took more than 30 days to move a field-a-day through the 22 miles to Caen and recalls the sight of hundreds of Lancaster bombers, passing-over on the raid to level that French city ahead of his final advance.
He said: “We saw planes being shot out of the sky with parachutists coming down on a moonlit night as clear as a bell. I can see that now.”
Mr Suchland said: “I’ve see some rather harrowing things that weren’t very enjoyable to see.
“We had a makeshift operating theatre to treat the wounded and evacuate the dead.
“I remember one day we received 30 dead soldiers from a friendly fire incident – I remember sitting on a mound of earth and just watching this terrible scene unfold in front of us.”
The former Royals Corps of Signals Lance Corporal recalled how he then fought his way through France, Belgium and Holland before finishing the war in Germany, where he used his draughtsman’s skills to produce a map of his post-D-Day campaign through Northern Europe.
He told his well-wishers on Monday stories of how he was welcomed into a Belgian farmhouse with a four-poster bed as he endured 6ft snow drifts and freezing temperatures in the Ardennes at Christmas 1944.
And, how he was horrified when a Dutch family cooked their pet rabbit to make a meal to thank him for bringing them tins from the Army stores after they had lived for four years on just potatoes.
Mr Suchland later received the Legion d’honneur, the highest French order of merit.
He was born and brought up in Manchester, where he played football for Manchester Boys’ and had trials for Lancashire County Cricket Club.
His family later moved to Southport, where he lived for most of his life.
After leaving school at 16, he trained as a draughtsman but signed up for the Army as soon as he turned 18, in 1942, serving in the Royal Corps of Signals, attached to the 51st Highland Division – the remnants of the Desert Rats.
He was snapped-up for the Signals due to his mastery of morse code and he described how he still remembers it all now – still thinking of the dots-and-dashes as he tries to get to sleep at night.
“I can remember it is if it was yesterday,” he said. “I’m quite proud of that fact.”
Mr and Mrs Suchland married in 1950, after meeting at the Belle Vue Ballroom in Manchester. They have two daughters, four grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Asked about turning 100, he said: “I can’t really believe it. I’m very thankful and very pleased to still be here at that age. And I’m enjoying it.”
Mr Suchland said he was looking forward to watching the events in Normandy on the TV and has accepted he cannot travel as he needs oxygen 24 hours a day.
He said he did sneak off to to renew his passport without telling anyone, just in case.
“Otherwise I’d have been there like a shot, I really would,” he said. “I would have loved to have gone back to Normandy.
“I can remember Caens as if it was yesterday.”
Mr Suchland said: “I think all school children should be told about the war in Europe, the Normandy campaign.
“I think it should be in kiddies’ minds to grow up and remember the days when so many people did lose their lives for the sake of freedom.”
He added: “I certainly don’t see myself as a hero. It was a period of my life that went by pretty quick, to be honest, but I am proud of what we did.”
The RBL will be escorting just 23 D-Day veterans to Normandy later this week, compared with 255 who travelled to commemorate the 75th Anniversary in 2019.
A further 21 D-Day veterans have registered to attend the RBL service at the National Memorial Arboretum.
RBL director of Remembrance Philippa Rawlinson said: “The legacy left by Eric and the Second World War generation lives on in the freedom and democracy we have today. It is vital we continue to honour their service and sacrifice.”
