‘The sight of all those ships on D-Day – it was awesome’

FORMER teacher and D-Day veteran has been awarded France’s highest honour. Barnard Castle’s Colin Hall was a cog in the allied war machine – looking after radar aboard a destroyer, HMS Vimy, in 1944 and 1945.
In recognition of his D-Day efforts, the 92-year-old received the Legion d’honneur earlier this month after ex-forces resident Maxine Moore put him forward.
“We were sat next to each other at Joe Swinbank’s funeral and I said I was at D-Day,” explains Mr Hall.
“There are not many of us around now – I am 92 and not many of us have survived – I was one of the lucky ones.
“I was there at the end of the war when things were beginning to turn in our favour.”
Few survivors of the Second World War are still with us in Teesdale. As the years tick by, so do the opportunities to listen to those who were actually there.
Operation Overlord remains the largest amphibious operation in history and helped provide a foothold in mainland Europe for the Allies. Mr Hall tells me how dawn on June 6, 1944 revealed minesweepers, oil tankers, landing craft and battleships firing shells overhead.
“The sight of countless ships was absolutely awesome,” he says.
“I was mindful of the fact my vision would only carry so far on a grey day.”
Aboard the Vimy, Mr Hall helped probe enemy defences and kept an eye out for predatory U-Boats and fast-moving E-Boats in the channel.
The weather had shown its hand as May became June and D-Day itself had to be put back.
“It felt like a very long 24 hours because the ship was sealed,” says Mr Hall.
“We were given the order and told no-one was to communicate with the shore.
“We were told if we were captured it was our duty to escape.”
Curious lumps of concrete flanked by tugs also stick in Mr Hall’s memory.
The materials would be the building blocks of Mulberry Harbours – designed to be a substitute for France’s ports until they were captured by the Allies.
Unpleasant weather returned later in the month to batter the Vimy, leading to an anxious 48 hours cut off from supply lines.
“We had one of the worst summer storms of the century,” says Mr Hall.
“It was really dreadful and sadly these Mulberry Harbours had just been built very expertly with a lot of work. It was an amazing effort and then this storm savaged them and some were completely written off.”
Upon Mr Hall’s living room wall hangs a roster of medals among which is the Atlantic Star – awarded for service during the Battle of the Atlantic.
After training at HMS Ganges, near Ipswich, a 20-year-old Mr Hall entered the fray in February 1944 shadowing North Atlantic convoys aboard the Vimy.
Conditions aboard the destroyer were Spartan at best.
Formerly, HMS Vancouver, an old Canadian ship from the First World War, the Vimy lacked mod-cons and condensation clung to the metal hull during the icy days and nights.
Men aboard were compensated for their troubles.
Mr Hall says: “Because it was such an ancient ship we were paid an extra shilling a day called ‘hard layers’. Living conditions were really grim.
“Originally, they sprayed cork granules to absorb the condensation but over the years it had lots of coats of paint that rendered the cork inoperable.”
With progress being made in cracking the Germans’ Enigma code and the advance of radar technology, The Battle of the Atlantic turned in the Allies’ favour in late 1943. However, security remained of utmost importance.
“Radar was very new then – it was all very hush hush,” says Mr Hall.
“When we did our course, all our notebooks had to be locked away and we weren’t allowed to take them out.”
Turning the ship’s radar by hand and communicating with the bridge by shouting up, the crew rotated in shifts to keep watch.
Mr Hall says: “Watch keeping was a big thing – that was my first experience of working nights from midnight to 4am – ‘hey diddle diddle who’s got the middle’ we used to say.”
After being posted to the channel, the Vimy regularly escorted convoys to Antwerp from Southend until VE Day in May 1945.
He was released early from service in September 1945 as he had a Grade B profession to attend to – teaching.
He taught in schools and mining colleges all over County Durham with a 16-year-old Sir Bobby Robson one of his many ex-students.
The father-of-four, grandfather-of-eight and great-grandfather of seven retired in 1982 and moved to Teesdale with his late second wife at the turn of the century.
Reflecting on his war service, Mr Hall says he was lucky the war had turned in the Allies’ favour during his two years of service and admits the Legion d’honneur had come as a surprise.
But he reserves a mention for those who weren't so fortunate. He adds: “I shall never forget the excitement of those times and I am proud to have been there, but I’m ever mindful of the non survivors who paid the supreme sacrifice.”