The D-Day landings of June 6, 1944 were part of an unprecedented military operation which heralded the beginning of the end of World War Two. The massive invasion force of 176,000 men gave Allied troops the foothold necessary to force back Hitler's occupying army and reclaim Europe from Nazi control. MARTYN KENT spoke to veterans Taking part in the historic D-Day landings 60 years ago seems like yesterday to John Thickings.

As his landing craft stopped in eight feet of water at Normandy's Sword Beach at 6.30am on D-Day, "all hell broke loose".

As the steps came down from the sides of the boat, the captain reminded the 200 men on board that they would be shot if they turned back.

All John remembers thinking was 'get off the boat'. Wading through the sea under shell and machine gun fire, he made it to shore.

The 20-year-old saw wounded soldiers, laden with 90lbs packs, struggling in the deep water and drowning.

"You had to look after yourself and weren't allowed to pick up any of the wounded, you just had to carry on," he said, adding: "Training does not prepare you for something like that."

John was a Private in the Kings Regiment, which had been waiting in tents in Havant for six weeks for the call to action.

They suspected something big was in the offing having been given maps and French money, and in the early hours of June 6, 1944 they left Littlehampton for Normandy in northern France.

His unit was sent in the second wave to make the beaches safe for other troops to land by stamping out German resistance and clearing mines.

D-Day provided John, who now lives in Grosvenor Road, Borehamwood, with his first sight of the enemy.

"Having to shoot people is sad but if you didn't they would shoot you," he said.

The whole experience is always at the back of his mind, and three or four years after the end of the war he used to have nightmares.

"Sometimes I get sentimental, I am very proud to be British.

For him, the toughest part of war was his friends being killed. "I was one of the lucky ones but you never forget your pals," he said, adding that nothing in his civilian life came close to the friendship and camaraderie he experienced during the war.

After the landing on the north French coast, John's unit moved inland through Bayeux and Caen.

It was disbanded 20 days after D-Day as its "clearing" task was complete.

John, who joined up as an 18-year-old 'Churchill boy' in 1942, then moved on to the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

From France he pushed on through northern Europe until finally reaching Germany.

He had a near miss when a tank he was in was hit by a shell that didn't explode.

When crossing the River Rhine in Germany in 1945, however, he was wounded after being hit in the back by a ricocheted bullet which narrowly missed his spine. "I have been very lucky," said John, who turns 81 next month.

He was sent to a hospital in Belgium to recover and there he found out the war was over.