WHEN the destroyer HMS Myngs left Scappa Flow at the beginning of June 1944, her crew were buzzing with excitement, recalled veteran Norman Gilchrist.

Norman joined the Royal Navy just after the outbreak of war. In the run-up toD-Day he had reached the rank of Leading Seaman aboard the warship.

He remembers: "I was 20 years old. When our destroyer flotilla joined the convoy in the Cromarty Firth off the coast of Scotland in early June, we knew this was not an exercise.

"We knew that this was the real thing."

For the next two days, until June 5, the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, escorting some 35 merchant vessels, crawled down the east coast of Britain, attracting the attention of several enemy E-boats.

Norman explained: "We were escorting a dummy convoy, consisting of empty invasion barges that were dressed up to look like troop ships. We knew the ships were empty the Germans did not. By coming down the east coast, we were out to convince the Germans that the D-Day invasion was aimed at Calais."

Generals from both sides realised that the Pas de Calais offered the most logical staging point for invasion. Only 30 miles from Dover, and with good port facilities, its capture would give the Allies the perfect springboard to liberate France. But after four years of occupation, German forces had made this bastion impregnable.

The Allied generals had to gamble on a landing in Normandy. But despite massive Allied air and naval superiority, the success of the invasion was far from guaranteed

About 800,000 German troops were entrenched in France. If the Allies failed to secure a foothold on day one, theD-Day operation would fail.

"We were the decoy," said Norman, explaining that if the German High Command fell for the ruse, they would purposely hold back thousands of men around Calais in the north. This would give the Allies time to secure the foothold needed to liberate France.

On the early hours of D-Day 30 miles off the coast of Suffolk, the shadowing E-boats attacked.

Speeding across the water, they penetrated the destroyer screen, managing to release several torpedoes before the escorts could react. The destroyer's 4.5 inch guns swivelled into action, blowing two E-boats from the water and forcing the others out of range.

By noon the convoy halted outside the Thames Estuary. Initial reports stated that Allied troops had gained a precious foothold on the Normandy beaches and that thousands of German soldiers still remained immobile at Calais.

However, at the time the men of the 2nd Flotilla were unaware of just how successful their action had been.

Norman said: "We didn't know if the ruse had worked. Only when we began to return north after a few days did we begin to celebrate."

After D-Day, Norman served in the Atlantic and the Pacific. Discharged in 1946 Norman returned to Deal, where he married Mary in December 1947.

Norman worked in the motor industry until the late 1950s before becoming an electrical inspector in Sandwich and Ash. From 1982 until his retirement in 1989 Norman worked as a marine patrol officer for the Dover Harbour Board.

In 1994 Norman was elected as a Deal town councillor, a position he still holds, and was Deal mayor in 2002/03.