D-DAY

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BIGGEST EVENT EVER IN THE BLACKDOWNS, ENGLAND:

D-DAY AT SMEATHARPE AIRFIELD

More than 6,000 people were held spellbound on the original wartime airfield of Smeatharpe on Sunday, the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. 

World War II Mustang fighters swooped low over the crowds and performed extraordinary feats of combat aerobatics.  The distinctive roar of their engines brought back distant memories for many in the audience.  One of the few surviving twin-engined Beach aircraft came in from the South and landed.  It was a magnificent example of the same aircraft which flew the Supreme Allied Commander of Operation Overlord, General Eisenhower, on his visits to the 2,800,000 troops garrisoned in England ready for the liberation of Europe in June 1944.  WWII reconnaissance aircraft circled the airfield, then landed on the runway. 

Overhead, stationed at 4000 feet, 22 paratroopers, led by ex-Royal Marine Jump-Master Andrew Guest, tumbled out of two aircraft, dropping petals in memoriam as they descended.  The crowd of 6000 clapped in appreciation as they landed.

The Mayor of Honiton gave the Commemorative Address and the local pastor delivered a blessing. 

Gathering their chutes, the paratroopers stood to attention, the trumpeter sounded The Last Post and members of the Royal British Legion dipped their ceremonial flags. 

6,000 people stood in silence for two minutes in remembrance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.  The trumpeter sounded Reveille and the flags were raised once more.

Then, the son of the wartime airfield Commander, Colonel Young, who had flown in specially from America, described the events of D-DAY which his father had recounted in the aftermath of World War Two.

One hour before midnight on June 5th 1944, men of the 101st Airborne Division in 81 aircraft of 439th Troop Carrier Group took off from Smeatharpe Airfield on the Somerset/Devon border to step into space over Normandy at 1 o’clock in the morning of June 6th – D-DAY.  Their mission:  to render inoperative the German defences guarding the exits from the beaches, to enable 250,000 men from Britain, America and Canada to land from the sea that morning.  The young Americans launching from Smeatharpe Airfield, on the Somerset/Devon border, were amongst the first to drop behind enemy lines in the allied assault to free Europe from Hitler’s Nazi tyranny.

Thus began the liberation of Europe in the cause of freedom.

On Sunday June 6th 2004, more than 6000 people from all over the South West of England gathered at Smeatharpe to pay tribute to the valour of the paratroopers of 101st Airborne and their compatriots of 439th Troop Carrier Group.  The bravery and  the resolution of those young men made possible our life today.  To them we owe a lasting debt.

The special D-DAY Exhibition of real-time stories and photographic records of the exploits of the men from Smeatharpe, with wartime action film taken by the soldiers and airmen, continues at CULMHEAD AIRFIELD, the second highest airfield in England, south of Taunton, throughout the week until 5pm on Saturday 12th June.  Veterans of D-DAY will be in attendance.

The exhibition, compiled in painstaking research by Robin Gilbert, is an evocative documentary record of the events of June 1944, not to be missed.  A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revisit the deeds and to witness the valour of all those who made possible our freedom today.

Donations to the Smeatharpe Memorial Fund are welcomed.  Cheques to be made payable to WWII South West Airfields Heritage.

Address: WWII South West Airfields Heritage,

B24 WWII Flight Office,

Marcus Road,

Dunkeswell Airfield,

Honiton, EX14 4LB.

Credits:

The Trust is grateful to Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks for permission to screen extracts from episodes one and two of “Band of Brothers”, which movingly dramatise the exploits of the men of E-Company who launched from Smeatharpe Airfield at 11 o’clock on the night of June 5th 1944 to be amongst the first to drop into Normandy behind enemy lines at 1 o’clock in the morning of D-DAY June 6th.

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