Charles E. Hill
6th Battalion Green Berets. D-Day Landing, Normandy. Awarded Victoria Cross.

 “On the first day of the landing there were 47 wounded or killed out of our company of 110. I was 19 years old. My worst memory is the last day of the war: As we got to the top of a lane, there were a group of about 50 Germans marching and singing, walking to the left, and a German Tiger tank on fire on the right hand side. We followed them along the lane, and suddenly another group of Germans came walking the opposite way, and they were singing, and they hadn’t seen us either. Then one of our chaps opened fire. There were half a dozen of us on one side of a narrow lane, and about 50 Germans dashed to the other side. Then a Tiger tank on the left opened fire and dropped a shell between us. We dashed back across a field, to a farmhouse. When we got there the Germans were firing from either side of the farm, and the house was on fire. On the following morning the Germans had gone, and soon after they surrendered with white flags. It was a week before my birthday, the last day of action, and I didn’t think I’d make it.”