D-Day heroes recall their proudest days

THE FIRST time Leon Gautier came to the Highlands he was 20 and preparing for a daring raid that would help to liberate his native France in the Second World War.

The second time was yesterday, when he took part in a pilgrimage by ten French survivors of the elite troops who took part in the D-Day landings to the place where they trained for their heroic place in history.

The French veterans were part of No10 Inter-Allied Commando, under the command of Capt Philippe Kieffer, who landed on Sword beach on 6 June, 1944. They formed part of the 1st Special Service Brigade, commanded by Lord Lovat, which came ashore at Ouistreham as part of the operation to liberate occupied France, an operation immortalised in the film The Longest Day.

A few weeks short of the 60th anniversary of the historic landing, the French soldiers returned to the spot where they underwent the punishing training and to remember their fallen comrades.

Accompanied by serving French commandos, Royal Marines and British D-Day veterans, they took part in a poignant memorial service at the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge and visited the site of the training camp at nearby Achnacarry Castle.

With a biting wind whipping off the snow-capped Nevis range of mountains overlooking the site, the veterans, all in their eighties, stood in silent memory of their colleagues.

Wreaths were laid below the memorial’s statue, and the Rev David Wylie, a Royal Marines chaplain, led prayers in both English and French.

He recited the Kieffer prayer, said by the commandos before they headed to France: "Lord, I shall be very busy today. I may forget about You, but do not Thou forget about me."

The camp was set up in 1942 to train commandos after the prime minister, Winston Churchill, ordered the establishment of an elite force to raid the enemy-held coastline of Europe.

The commandos, who earned the right to wear the famous green beret, went on to earn 38 battle honours, including eight Victoria Crosses.

Mr Gautier arrived in Achnacarry in 1943, after serving with the French marines in Africa and the Middle East and then volunteering to join the commandos.

He recalled the tough training regime, which included close-combat training, exercises with live ammunition and "speed marching" - seven miles in an hour with a full pack.

"We were five weeks here, which was long enough. At the end we were very fit. It was very tough, but you don’t wear the green beret for nothing," he said yesterday.

"Some were unable to do the training. If you failed the course once, they were not very happy. if you failed a second time, you were ‘RTU’ - returned to unit and sent home."

In all, 300 French troops began the training at Achnacarry and 177 took part in the Normandy landings.

"Most of us had left France four years before and we were very motivated about going back," remembered Mr Gautier.

"When I saw the coastline of France, it was 6am and it was an emotional time for us. As we got closer, there were shells exploding around the landing craft. But when we landed we had a job to do and we did not think about it any more.

"We were coming to France not as an invading force, but as a liberating force."

Mr Gautier, who married an Englishwoman after the war, now lives in Ouistreham, close to the spot where he took part in the landings in 1944.

Returning to Scotland after 60 years was an emotional experience: "It has been a long time away, but I am happy to see this place again. It was good to meet some old friends, but it was also a very emotional occasion."

He was dismissive of The Longest Day, saying it did not accurately represent the commandos. He also rejected an account of the training at Achnacarry by Swenn-Al Bollor, who referred to the camp as "inhuman" in a book.

Mr Gautier said: "What he said about Achnacarry was totally wrong. It was very tough, a lot of hard work, but not that bad."

Joe Rorrison, from Johnstone, a British commando veteran, recalled arriving at Spean Bridge as a 19-year-old. His party was met by a military lorry, which he assumed was to take him and his colleagues to the camp, some seven miles away. Instead, it collected their luggage and the troops were told to speed-march there.

"I had been used to marine training, but it was certainly a lot more difficult than anything I had been used to. It was rough, but we were young men and we enjoyed it," he said.

Major Tim Cook, a Royal Marines spokesman, said the ground’s location and geography was an ideal place for its purpose: "It was tough terrain for tough troops exercising for a tough task."