A Normandy veteran living in Oxford who is nearing his 100th birthday has spoken about his experiences as part of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
On June 6 1944, more than 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy in northern France for the start of Operation Overlord, now known as D-Day.
Turning 100-years-old in August, Arthur Marsh Vincent arrived in Normandy a couple of days after D-Day and has shared his experiences with the Oxford Mail.
Although this happened 80 years ago, Mr Vincent was able to recall his experiences in detail.
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He was part of the The fourth/Seventh Royal Dragoon Guards, which was a cavalry regiment of the British Army formed in 1922, and his role was wireless operator which involved loading guns.
"I joined up with the regiment having landed on D-Day as part of a troop of crusader tanks," he explained.
"Mainly from then onwards we were constantly on the alert - we didn’t get time off.
"We were generally in action of some sort during the day, only occasionally having a day out."
Mr Vincent joined the army at 18-years-old straight after school, enrolling himself before being conscripted at Southampton, and he was just 19-years-old when he served in the Battle of Normandy.
He told us: "We didn’t see many French civilians, as most of them had moved away from the battle areas.
"There were farmers still around and they used to invite us in to have a drink in the evening.
"At the end of the day, when we assumed the days action was pretty well over, we would be aware of the dead bodies of those who had been killed, still lying in the fields.
"And there were animals, which was even more distressing because they were lying, having being killed, and of course the smell of death.
"That was generally our life because everyday, there was battle somewhere."
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Mr Vincent recalled a particular attack in which he was lucky to survive.
"Our attack was never fired upon during the day, we were always lucky in that respect," he said.
"But there was one attack from the air very late in the day, when a German plane spotted that we had all had assembled in a court yard or a farm.
"This plane swooped in and killed two people in the squadron.
"I was very lucky – I went to ground like all the others
"I remember pressing myself hard into the ground, thinking 'if I don’t get a direct hit, I shall be alright'."
Mr Vincent remembers thinking his friend called Rocky would not survive the attack but fortunately he did.
Mr Vincent said there were lighter moments, needed in dark times, which he spoke about fondly.
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He also said the French were very welcoming, adding: "The French were amazed to see the number of tanks going by as we passed through northern France after the Battle of Normandy was over.
"They were very welcoming to us, although you might have thought they would have been rather disgruntled about having their homes destroyed."
Mr Vincent carried on serving in World War Two and stayed in the army until 1947.
Having grown up in London, Mr Vincent moved to Oxford in 1963, where he met his wife Mary, who he will be celebrating being married to for 60 years this year.
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