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This is the real diary of a British Army soldier who landed in Normandy 80 years ago in June 1944. The posts will follow his journey from the Beachhead to Germany. Each post has a short narrative to set the scene, drawn from the Regiment’s official record of the campaign. It is his voice, unedited, speaking to you from the battlefield. The soldier was my father, Alan Hicks, his job was to creep forward towards the enemy, climb to a high observation point with a cumbersome radio and direct mortar bombs to land on them. Quite frankly, I am lucky to have been born at all.

Acknowledgements: My dad for being a great dad. My sister, Clare, for typing this up from the original hand-written pages back in the 1980s. The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum in Winchester and its volunteer staff, especially Major Ken Gray.

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