Naval officer Eric Krull describes D-Day

Eric Krull, from Manawatu, was the second officer on a Royal Navy landing craft. Here he describes the scene on Gold Beach on D-Day.

Transcript

As you looked up the beach it was a mess; there were stranded craft and all sorts of little craft, big craft, a hell of a mess really, but we didn’t get to know anything about the others much because we were all on our own and had to look after ourselves. There was no method of getting in touch or walking along to see how they were or anything like that. I thought it was hopeless. I thought we’d never make it.  I thought, you know, this is a failure.  

How noisy was it in the peak of all that?

Very noisy.

So what were the sounds?

Well, sounds of vehicles and guns and shouting, all that sort of thing.

And what could you see ahead of you on the beach? Anything?

Well, in our particular spot not much except our own and a few, I could see a few soldiers further up the beach, but, you know, we were so involved with our own business that we weren’t looking about much.

And what about in the water around you with the kind of the chaos of those small craft going under, were there bodies floating around?

Yes. There were, debris and bits of the boat.

Any people who were still alive?  Are you aware of any?

I think the ones that were alive could scramble ashore.

Did you see that happening?

Mm, mm.

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Eric Krull in uniform.

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Eric Krull in 2004