TONY Gibbins, 80, was brought up in Hertfordshire. He came to Kent in 1943 with the Royal Marines.

He knows the area well now, having settled here after the war, lately in Higham Lane, Bridge, where he has lived for 20 years.

As a 19-year-old, it was the coast off Sandwich and the creeks by the mouth of the River Stour that he came to know well.

"We were sent to land base HMS Robertson, near Sandwich, where Pfizer is, in August 1943, to form flotilla 812 of the Royal Marines," he says.

"In the sea and in the creeks, we practised beach landings and manoeuvres, and we dropped off soldiers, over and over again. We knew something was coming up, but we didn't know when."

Flotilla 812 left Sandwich for Hayling Island, near Portsmouth, a little more than a week before D-Day.

"When we got there, we were put in these camps and we weren't allowed out. We just had to wait," says Mr Gibbins.

"On June 5, we left for Normandy and got a couple of miles out to sea before the signal flashed at us to come back, because it was too stormy. We went back, we got fed, and at about five or six the next morning, we left again.

"We arrived at Gold beach at around midday on D-Day. So many things were going on: the smoke, the noise, the bombardment of the coast. The German Air Force didn't stand a chance because, as soon as they showed up, they got shot.

"My landing craft was only about 30 feet long and eight feet wide. It was an LCP a landing craft personnel. We had to work in teams of three, knowing how to look after the engine, handle ropes, knowing the steering, the signals and Morse code.

"Our job was to support the troops. If an Army unit on shore suddenly needed ammunition, it was our job to get it to them.

"I also remember on D-Day we went up to HMS Ramillies, this great big cruiser, to pick up bread for the troops from the huge bake houses on board. This cruiser's six-inch guns were bombarding the shore and there was resistance from the Germans.

"As we approached, it stopped firing its guns and a loudhailer came over. 'What do you think you're up to?' it asked. We said: 'We've come for the bread.' 'You've got 10 minutes before we open fire again,' came the reply. But we got it.

"It was also our job to get the bodies laid out on the landing craft and take them from the shore to the destroyers or big vessels going back to England. We stayed there about a month.

"War is the luck of the draw. You join a unit, you don't know where you're going, you don't know where the training will take you."

n It took an entire day of heavy fighting for the Allies to secure their position on the Gold beachhead. By nightfall on D-Day, the British attacks had pushed inland by about five miles.