Private Hill’s Diary: A British Army Doctor’s First-Hand Experience of D-Day Operations

On the 80th anniversary of D-Day, where Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France to strike the first blow against Nazi Germany in turning the tide of World War II, a first-hand account of the day fateful resurfaced after it was originally published in the Leicester Chronicle/Mercury in 1946.

Private Hill, originally from Leicester, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) in 1939 at the start of the Second World War. His six years of service saw him in action in Egypt, Libya, Palestine, France, Belgium and Germany.

The RAMC is a non-combatant corps where members are only allowed to use their weapons for self-defense. During World War II, they would accompany combat troops to the front lines to provide specialist emergency medical care, thousands themselves becoming casualties or prisoners in the process.

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During the D-Day operation, medical organization and supply was significant. Doctors, surgeons and nurses from the RAMC and the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps landed on the beaches alongside regular units.

Each unit had a regimental medical officer and his team, while each landing craft had at least one orderly. Stretcher-bearers were assigned to pick up the wounded and transport them to stations assembled on the beaches for urgent dressings, operations and transfusions.

At sea, 70 of the landing craft were assigned to transport casualties back to the fleet and then to hospitals on the south coast of England for further care. Private Hill’s vivid account of D-Day, as published in The Leicester Chronicle in October 1946, has resurfaced, providing a stark and intimate look at the events of that historic day.

His journal entries detail the intense conditions on the ship he was stationed on, the haunting memories of specific casualties, the relentless enemy attacks and the daily toll of wounded soldiers they cared for. These personal records provide a unique insight into the vital support roles that played a key role in the triumph of Operation Overlord.

Although not an official war correspondent, Private Hill’s contributions have joined countless front-line reports that have been chronicled in Findmypast’s extensive historical newspaper archives.

In a particularly moving passage, he recounts:

“A dead American paratrooper was picked up by us and in his pocket was a poem about freedom, the last two lines being ‘Because I died today.’ He then continues with a detailed description of the landing:

“Along the beach were a line of LSTs being busily unloaded and left aloft and dry until the next wave washed them away. A full moon rose to illuminate the scene. A huge fire about a quarter of a mile long was raging ashore. There were strange fires. all along the coast.

“During the day, they appeared as large plumes of smoke. At midnight the “Headquarters” was called. This was the first air raid alert for us during the intensive operations that were to follow.

“There was a great deal of flak from the ships which were crowded together. Several bombs dropped between us and the next ship. One of my mates was wounded by flying shrapnel. On the morning of June 6th, “Headquarters” called again During the night I rescued three men from the water after their boat capsized.

“Another air raid alarm went off as we were walking ashore. There were several sunken tanks, wagons and cranes scattered in the water. As the fight progressed we prepared to take casualties on board. They started arriving before we were quite ready.

“We counted 79 victims at the beginning. We worked all day tending to those injured personnel and slept for two hours. I vividly remember an AA shell exploding on our deck.

“The next day we retired on the morning tide with a convoy and during the night had a fight with the ‘E Boats.’ Passing the Straits of Dover, we docked at Tilbury on the morning of the 9th of June, and casualties were removed. at night with my two friends Hank and Franco we had a pub crawl On the night of the 10th of June we stood by Southend Pier with a convoy and the next day a smoke screen was laid between us and France when we turned into. Mainland We ran over a sunken tank which caused us to lose considerable amounts of oil and fuel and damaged our propeller.

“On June 14, 189 patients came on board. We retired for an evening convoy to England. There were various air raid alarms and I remember spending two hours just getting hypodermic shots, anti-tetanus, anti-gas gangrene, penicillin. and morphine.”

“Early on the 15th of June all the guns were going at once. We were attacked by torpedoes. It was an infernal racket. Three RAMC men were killed and one wounded. But we got through and got to Portsmouth opposite the famous “Victory “. .”

In honor of its 80th anniversary, Findmypast has made millions of records available to the public for free online. This includes over 75 million pages of newspapers, military records and nearly 300 historic images of the D-Day landings within their extensive photo collection.

Jen Baldwin, Research Specialist at Findmypast, commented: “There is so much we can still discover about the lives and experiences of those who served in the Second World War. Forgotten accounts like this give us the opportunity to understand the horrors of D. – Day through the eyes of those who were there, but are sadly no longer with us.

“I would encourage people across the country to delve into the pages of our newspapers and historical records to discover the details of their family’s war story from the soldiers on the beach, the Red Cross nurses who attended to the wounded or the Home Front volunteers who provided support crucial. You can do it for free on Findmypast in celebration of D-Day.”

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