Veteran from Halifax remembers D-Day 80 years on
Today marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day
A D-Day veteran from West Yorkshire tells us he and his allies must 'not be forgotten' as he marks the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
Eric Suchland, who lives in Halifax, was just 20-years-old when he landed on Sword Beach in 1944.
"Without D-Day, a lot of us wouldn't be here"
"Lots of my recollections of the Normandy campaign are quite sharp in aspects. When I arrived on Sword Beach, in a land craft tank (LCT), the beach was so littered with vehicles and barbed wire and mines.
"There were three of us in the vehicle and we were the second down the ramp. the first was a three tonne lorry which disappeared into a shell hole. I don't know what happened to the driver.
"We moved along the shore little bit and luckily we were straight up the beach. No problem at all. That was my first remembrance of landing on the beach."
Eric began his time in the Army in the Royal Corps of Signals in 1942.
As a member of the Home Guard before he was old enough to conscribe, Eric became proficient in Morse code, joining the 51st Highland Division as an 18-year-old signaller.
Two years later he was landing on the shores of Normandy.
"Most people know about D-Day of course. Still so many people, especially young people, still don't know anything about D-Day. What D-Day was. What it stands for and how important it was.
"I'm proud I was there. To help out in a tiny way. It was the turning point of the War and we made it our business to take back and retain the land Hitler had taken."
D-Day proved the crucial turning point in the Second World War.
The operation was vital in pushing back the German Army back into France and led Hitler to defeat a year later.
Commemorations are taking place across West Yorkshire this week, including at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.
The museum will have events take place over the next couple of days, including two firing displays per day.
Matthew Wood is the Exhibitions and Displays Manager and explains the importance of this historic day: "When we think of D-Day, we know the operation itself was really important.
"We know that it's something to commemorate.
"But that 'what-if' history if we hadn't have done it. Europe would have looked very different for the rest of the 20th century.
"What we forget, maybe today would make us think again, the Russians were pushing in from the other side.
"Had we not opened up the second front in Normandy, the Germans would have known what we were doing and may have extended the War even further."
In Normandy later, more than 1,600 members of the Armed Forces will lead the commemorations, where they'll be joined by the Prince of Wales.