WORLD WAR 2 BATTLEFIELD TOURS

Terry's Tours also arrange bespoke tours to the World War 2 battlefields of Northern Europe. We specialise in the D Day Landing Beaches and Normandy, Arnhem and Dunkirk.

In May 2016, we took 3 generations of Private 4804313 Donald Arthur Coles' family to the beaches of Dunkirk. Donald was serving with 6th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. On 2nd June 1940, he was one of the last of the 330,000 soldiers of the BEF to be evacuated from the beaches when he boarded a boat from the Eastern Mole. However, the boat was bombed and he swam ashore, where he was hit be a machine gun bullet fired from a German plane. He died on the beach. He may have been buried after the evacuation, but his grave was lost. He is remembered on the Dunkirk Memorial.

The Dunkirk Eastern Mole where Donald climbed onto a boat and must have thought he was on the way home:

The family then made their way to the Dunkirk Cemetery and Memorial. They found the grave of an unknown soldier that was killed on the same day as Donald. Maybe, just maybe, his 2 daughters had found him:

Finally, before starting the journey home, the family left heartfelt messages for Donald in the Visitors Book:

In October 2019, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D Day, I participated in the D Day Normandy Beaches Frontline Walk. Over the 3 days, 100 of us trekked 75 miles from St Mere Eglise, across all 5 landing beaches, to Pegasus Bridge. These photographs were taken by the Charity's official photographer, Ed Smith:

Ed Smith Photography Facebook Page