After volunteering for the Navy, Reg was first sent to America on the HMS Asbury, one of the first minesweepers. He chuckles at the memory of mistakenly identifying a barracuda as a torpedo on their way to Bermuda. While sailing back over the Atlantic, the ship was attacked off the Irish Coast, and three of the convoy were sunk.

Reg then joined the HMS Gazelle in the Fortieth Minesweeping Flotilla. He relates his memories of D-Day. The minesweepers were the first to arrive, and the crew were at action stations for 3 days straight, sweeping all 4 beaches. Reg recalls a German shell missing their boat narrowly during this time. His ship also picked up some survivors, but Reg was told to only take the dog tags of the dead. A memory that sticks with him is a soldier putting a flamethrower into a pillbox on Gold Beach, and all the Germans jumping out. 

The HMS Gazelle was sent to Plymouth after being damaged at the end of August, so their place in the flotilla was taken by HMS Plyades. Whilst on leave in England, Reg sees the news that this ship has been sunk along with two others in the convoy, and recalls saying to his father ‘That’s my flotilla Dad.’ Reg then leaves the Gazelle and goes to the Far East as a Torpedo Man, but says he has always regretted leaving the ship.

Reg describes the war as life-changing, and was glad to have been part of D-Day, although he was only 18 at the time. His story demonstrates the intensity of D-Day, and the tireless work of people like him that made the mission successful.