As his Army difficulty boots hit the sands of Juno Beach on sixth June 1944 Second Lieutenant Gilbert Jones bent down and scooped up a handful for luck.

He put his D-Day talisman in a tin and saved it in his backpack for the relaxation of the warfare. Back dwelling on his native Merseyside he would by no means converse of the carnage of these landings or the comrades he misplaced in Operation Overlord. But to honour them, and to give thanks for his personal life, the younger officer promised himself that, one day, he would take the sand again.

Sadly, time would meet up with him. When he died aged 98 the sand was nonetheless in the outdated ice cream tub the place he’d hidden it, locked inside a steel trunk full of army memorabilia. Now nevertheless, his grandson, an Army veteran who’s seen motion in the Balkans, East Africa and the Gulf, is about to full his grandfather’s remaining mission.

On sixth June subsequent 12 months, the eightieth anniversary of the landings, Dan Searson, who served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, will sail to Juno Beach, wade via the Normandy waters, and return the sand in his personal private act of remembrance.

‘I’d at all times recognized my grandfather had a couple of steel army containers – he cleared one out and gave it to me once I went to Sandhurst,’ remembers Dan, 47, from Liverpool. ‘But I never knew what was in the second. Like many men of his generation he was guarded about D-Day and the Normandy Campaign. He was a warm, loving man who cherished his children and grandchildren, he wasn’t chilly or secretive, he simply didn’t need to share it with us. I believe he felt it was his burden, not ours.

The World War Two soldier landed on Juno Beach on sixth June 1944, bending down and scooping up a handful for luck. pictured: Gilbert (stood, centre) in France in 1944

 To honour his fallen comrades, and to give thanks for his personal life, the younger officer promised himself that, one day, he would take the sand again

When Dan’s grandfather died aged 98 the sand was nonetheless in the outdated ice cream tub the place he’d hidden it, locked inside a steel trunk full of army memorabilia

Dan (pictured throughout his service in Bosnia 1999) is himself an Army veteran who’s seen motion in the Balkans, East Africa and the Gulf, serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps

Back dwelling on his native Merseyside he would by no means converse of the carnage of these landings or the comrades he misplaced in Operation Overlord. Pictured from left to proper: Dan’s spouse Helen Searson , grandmother Margaret Jones, grandfather Gilbert and Dan 

‘Four or five years before he died we were having a beer together and he told me: ‘I’ve received one thing I would like to take again to the Beach …’ I might have gladly taken him however by then he was too frail. All I might do was to commit to doing it for him.

‘When he died he left the box to me. Inside I found his Sam Brown, his stable belt, his D-Day whistle and a ledger with the names of all of his men in it, as well as his hand drawn maps showing the precise details of the Juno Beach landings.

‘My grandfather was a Royal Engineer, it was his job to shift men and munitions and kit safely from sea to land. Seeing the maps he’d held in his arms on D-Day gave me goosebumps. It was solely after I’d lifted them out that, beneath a copy of the newspaper from June seventh 1944 which my grandmother had saved for his homecoming, I discovered his field of sand and pebbles.

‘Closure is not the kind of word the fighting men and women of his generation would have used back in the 1940s and 1950s but that’s what this was for him. He at all times collected a pebble or a shell wherever he went, and he inspired us to do the identical. He was extremely sentimental about doing it, it was a ritual for him. Now I do know why.

‘So I’ll take his Juno Beach sand again for him and substitute it at 06.30am on sixth June 2024, 80 years to the minute since the landings. It will be closure for my grandfather and his warfare service, closure for my very own 30-year Army profession and my final good bye to him.’

Gil joined the Royal Artillery in 1938 earlier than transferring to the Royal Engineers. As nicely as combating in Europe, he additionally served in Burma and, after being demobbed at the finish of the warfare, signed up as a reservist. He put his uniform again on for the Suez Crisis in 1956 and remained in the reserves till 1963, rising to the rank of Major.

On sixth June subsequent 12 months, the eightieth anniversary of the landings, Dan Searson will sail to Juno Beach, wade via the Normandy waters, and return the sand in his personal private act of remembrance

As nicely as combating in Europe, he additionally served in Burma and, after being demobbed at the finish of the warfare, signed up as a reservist. He put his uniform again on for the Suez Crisis in 1956 and remained in the reserves till 1963, rising to the rank of Major. Pictured: Gilbert in 1944

A delivery clerk earlier than the warfare, he returned to his peace time employer Coast Line, remaining there when it was purchased by P&O, and finally retiring as a regional director. Pictured: Gilbert throughout his service – again row, fourth from the left

His grandson was commissioned in 1997, becoming a member of the RAMC as a Medical Support Officer, and rising to the rank of Captain. Pictured: Dan (second from proper) with his colleagues throughout his service in Iraq

A delivery clerk earlier than the warfare, he returned to his peace time employer Coast Line, remaining there when it was purchased by P&O, and finally retiring as a regional director. Gil was married to his warfare time sweetheart Margaret for 70 years. She died in November 2015 and he handed away lower than a 12 months later, simply 4 days after celebrating his 98th birthday in October 2016.

Dan remembers: ‘He was a very involved grandfather, he would take me out hiking, put up tents in the back garden, teach me about nature, tie knots with me and then we’d mild a campfire and cook dinner our dinner collectively. We had been so shut. It was as a result of of him that I utilized for an an Army scholarship at 16, and set the course for my very own life of army service.

‘Throughout my childhood he enthralled me with all his stories of army camaraderie and adventure – but he wouldn’t discuss D-Day, he by no means wished to talk about it with the individuals he liked most.’

Perhaps this isn’t shocking for after the American massacre on Omaha Beach, the 14,000 Canadian forces and 6,400 British troops who took Juno suffered the heaviest losses by sea. They had been nonetheless profitable, combating their approach to a rendezvous with British forces which had landed on both aspect of them, on Sword and Gold Beaches.

Second Lieutenant Jones was amongst the hundreds who helped set up a bridgehead that reached the predominant railway line and the strategically necessary street to Caen. By the finish of the first day of combating, the forces he helped land on Juno had been additional into France than these from another seaside.

His grandson was commissioned in 1997, becoming a member of the RAMC as a Medical Support Officer, and rising to the rank of Captain. He served round the world in the common military and as a reservist, lastly working as a army liaison officer throughout the Covid pandemic.

Dan served round the world in the common military and as a reservist, lastly working as a army liaison officer throughout the Covid pandemic

Second Lieutenant Jones was amongst the hundreds who helped set up a bridgehead that reached the predominant railway line and the strategically necessary street to Caen. Pictured: Gilbert (first on the left) in France in 1944

By the finish of the first day of combating, the forces he helped land on Juno had been additional into France than these from another seaside. Pictured: Gilbert in 1944

Today Dan runs Challenge The Wild, a firm which specialises in offering out of doors occasions and supporting the army veterans group. Pictured: Dan with some warfare mapping memorabilia that his grandfather owned

Today Dan runs Challenge The Wild, a firm which specialises in offering out of doors occasions and supporting the army veterans group. He can be a army ambassador for veterans’ charity Walking With The Wounded.

To elevate funds for WWTW, he’s hoping to take a small workforce of veterans with him on his expedition to Juno Beach, leaving from Sir Winston Churchill’s dwelling Chartwell in Kent, touchdown on Juno, after which climbing a sequence of celebrated warfare routes via France, Luxembourg and Holland, totalling greater than 200 miles. The expedition will conclude at Arnhem.

‘It’s the variety factor my grandfather would have liked,’ Dan says. ‘He believed in resilience and the strength we have inside ourselves, no matter what we’re going through. He took the sand to keep his braveness up, and I reckon after 80 years, it’s mission completed.’

To discover out extra about Dan’s D-Day Expedition or to donate go to https://ddayexpedition.co.uk/ and www.challengethewild.com