28 August, Wednesday, 2024
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HomeSourcesbbc.comI saw action on D-Day as a 16-year-old stowaway

I saw action on D-Day as a 16-year-old stowaway

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Don Duffield-Adby stowed away on a Bren gun carrier, landing on the beaches on D-Day as a 16-year-old cadet. His presence among the invasion force was only discovered by chance after several days in Normandy.

He had befriended the crew as they prepared near his home in Oxfordshire, and they hid him in the footwell when they set off. He went ashore with them and found himself as part of an anti-tank unit after their vehicle broke down on the beach.

When a senior officer came to congratulate the unit a few days later, he spotted Don and remarked that he looked very young. Don admitted to being only 16 and not even in the Army.

Keen to avoid a potential scandal, the Brigadier-General had him sent back to the UK on a hospital ship with a promise not to say anything about where he had been.

Sourcebbc.com
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