A WORLD War Two veteran who survived D-Day has shared his tales of battle as part of a new exhibition.
The Night Hunters: The Royal Navy’s Coastal Forces at War tells the history of a small band of young men who took part in the “closest thing to hand-to-hand fighting” experienced within the Royal Navy.
Veteran George Chandler, from Haywards Heath, served as an able seaman with the coastal forces between 1943 and 1946.
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The coastal forces, a division of the Royal Navy initially established during World War One, carried out daring night-time raids on enemy navy ships in small high-speed attack boats.
The 96-year-old recalled how his boat, an MTB 170 (motor torpedo boat), was blown up by a mine in the Adriatic ten days before the end of WW2 - killing 19 of the 31 crew on board.
Mr Chandler, who served as a gunner, said “someone must have been looking after me” that day.
“I look back with pride and some of that pride is in the men who surrounded you whilst you were on active service,” he said.
“Sometimes when I look back it brings a tear.”
Mr Chandler also described how he was deployed to Omaha beach on D-Day where his boat provided security to American forces as they landed.
“I was 19 and we watched those young Americans being slaughtered before they could get off their own assault craft,” he said.
“They faced cliffs with Germans using Americans as target practice.”
The Coastal Forces, established in 1916 with the aim of carrying out torpedo raids, were involved in anti-submarine operations, intercepting suspect merchant ships, rescue work and the destruction of floating mines during the World War One.
By the end of World War Two, 1,850 vessels had been built for the Coastal Forces, which had fired more torpedoes than the submarine service and laid more mines than the navy’s dedicated minelayers.
The division took part in more than 900 operations across the world, including the St Nazaire Raid, the Dieppe Raid and D-Day. They also sank more than 500 enemy vessels.
Among those who manned the attack crafts were future Avengers star Patrick Macnee, the second Doctor Who Patrick Troughton and James Bond director Guy Hamilton.
At the centre of the new exhibition in the Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower in Gosport, Hampshire, are two of World War Two boats - Coastal Motor Boat CMB331 and Motor Torpedo Boat MTB71.
Immortalised as “Spitfires of the Seas”, they were often deployed in the dark at speeds up to 35 knots.
On the exhibition, Mr Chandler said: “I’m flabbergasted. It’s absolutely marvellous. I think it’s well-deserved.”
Professor Dominic Tweddle, director general of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, said: “Their service has all the elements of an incredible story, but sadly they often paid with the ultimate sacrifice.
“They were incredibly brave young men onboard what were really quite basic boats, loaded with fuel and ammunition, working at high speed, often under the cloak of darkness.
“Their service and sense of duty send a shiver down the spine, and we are truly grateful to be working with the Coastal Forces Heritage Trust to open a gallery, so that their story can be shared.”
More gallantry awards were presented to the coastal forces than any other branch of the service.
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