VETERANS STORY
STAN SMITH - Gold Beach to Hill 112

Stan landed on Gold beach having sailed from Southampton (was loaded on the ship on June 1st!!!) and never stopped fighting till just over a month later in July, when he was blown up by mortar fire by Germans defending Hill 112.

Half of his face had been blown off; his hip bones were shattered and had torn through his uniform and he had lost one of his fingers. He was virtually dead.

Still conscious Stan tried to call for help but couldn't. A while later and bleeding profusely he was finally rescued, he never quite lost consciousness for several hours and kept waking as the medics constantly battled to save his life. Whilst this was happening - German snipers kept taking pot shots at him and the other wounded.

Eventually he was shipped back to the UK to begin the process of having his face and broken body rebuilt.

Stan's battle had only just begun.

Having made a recovery over many years Stan still fights with his nightmares and he relives Normandy like it was yesterday. Breaking down into tears he told me that the hardest thing he had to face was civilian life, people never knew what to say to him then and still don't now.

Often he still gets ridiculed in the streets by people that call him names and point at him.

He is one of the nicest men I have had the privilege of meeting with. I don't profess to know what it feels like or what this man has gone through but I have made myself a promise that I will do everything I can to tell his story, just so people can understand him.

Here you can listen to Stans story in his own words:

STAN SMITH PART 1 - <<<<< click to activate

Stan was interviewed by myself.

Please note you will need either Quicktime or some form of MP3 playback software in order to listen to the track. This is a 3.5mb file so please be patient!