The date of the D-Day landings gets ever more distant, but the memories remain vivid for 100-year-old Blesma Member Eric Lucas. Now a great-great-grandfather, Eric recalls the chaos of Sword Beach as an 18-year-old conscript in the 2nd Battalion King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.
“I didn’t know that there was going to be an invasion when we were training, but when we got to the coast we sort of realised that something big was happening,” says Eric. “When it was time to go, we were put in landing craft and the sea was quite rough as we headed to the beach.”
“We were apprehensive as we got closer, then the doors of the landing craft went down and there were bullets flying everywhere. How they missed me, I don’t know – I guess I was born lucky!” he recalls. “I had a Bren gun but dropped it as I jumped into the water. We were up to our necks in water and I couldn’t find it. It was terrible; people were getting killed around me and I remember picking up a dead man’s rifle and ammunition as I got to the beach. There were shells landing everywhere. We had to scramble up the beach as best we could, and we somehow managed to get off the sand and push the Germans back. I can’t believe I survived or that I wasn’t wounded.”
Eric went on to fight in France and the Netherlands, where he was wounded by shrapnel and had part of his right leg amputated.
“I was in hospital for three or four weeks, but after that I just got on with it. I didn’t let having a prosthetic leg hold me back. You have to concentrate on your life, and I have never dwelled too much on what happened, although the memories will never leave me. I’ve lived in this area all my life and have a great family. I’ve always stayed active, and I get out into the fresh air as much as I can.”
A Blesma Member for more than 40 years, Eric holds the Legion D’Honneur, his World War II campaign medals, and a 100th Birthday Telegram from King Charles. His son Geoff says, “Dad is incredible for his military background and the person he is. He has a great, happy personality and is loved and respected by so many. We are so proud of him.”
