Filed under: France, Remembrance Day | Tags: Eddie Linton, funding, Heroes Return, History, HMS Adventure, HMS Mourne, Newport, Normandy, Remembrance, Royal Navy, Second World War, Wales, War, Welsh, World War Two, WW2, WWII
As we prepare to remember those who died in the line of duty on 11 November, a Welsh D-Day veteran whose ship was sunk by a German U-Boat with the loss of 110 lives recalls how he was lucky to have survived.
Thanks to an award from the Big Lottery Fund’s Heroes Return programme, 87 year old Eddie Linton from Newport recently visited the beaches of Normandy for the first time to lay a wreath in memory of the 110 fellow crew-members that lost their lives on the frigate, HMS Mourne – the ship he served on during WW2.
Eddie recalls with sadness the first time the War hit home for him: “I remember walking to school and my friend looked a bit down so I asked him what was wrong,” recalls Eddie.
“‘My brother has been killed, he got blown up on HMS Adventure’ (1939) he said. I think she was the first ship blown up in the War and it brought it all home for me and I knew then what it was all about and how sad it was.”
To read Eddie’s story in full, visit the Big Lottery Fund newsroom.
