My memories of an emotional Normandy visit with veterans who saw action

We reported stories that had never been heard before from old soldiers, sailors and airmen, many of whom had never spoken about their Normandy experiences. In the process Peter Rhodes met a glider pilot, a Commando and a yeomanry tank crewman who came to be good friends.

All the veterans who joined the E&S pilgrimage are now dead but their memories live on. Here is Peter's account of that journey.

Reuben Welsh of Brewood, a tank radio operator who fought on D-Day with the Staffordshire Yeomanry, holds the coach spellbound as we drive into Normandy.

See, here? He points out where his Sherman tanks roared ashore 'without even getting our tracks wet' and raced inland to grab the high ground on June 6, 1944. It was a shrewd move. As German tanks launched a counter-attack, the Staffordshire Yeomanry shot them to pieces.

'They didn't come back again,' he says grimly.

George Jones of Wednesfield, who got stuck into some of the bloodiest fighting with his pals in the Commandos, has so much to say but is choked by emotion. This is his first trip back in fifty years and as we catch sight of Pegasus Bridge, the six-foot figure in the green beret breaks down. Between the beach and this bridge, four miles inland, George's 500 Commandos were shot and shelled to shreds. All but 80 were killed or wounded.

'I'm full up. I'm very emotional. If you weren't there, you can't imagine it,' he says, handing over the microphone at the front of the coach.

'You're entitled to be emotional, mate,' someone whispers.