D-Day anniversary - Stratford widow recalls her husband’s role at Pegasus Bridge
THERE will be a party atmosphere and lamp lighting ceremony at Ambleside care home in Stratford as it marks D-Day.
Widower Joyce Boland, 99, whose husband Oliver played a crucial role in the 1944 victory, is honoured to have been chosen to light the ‘D-Day 80 Lamp Light of Peace’ at the Evesham Road care home.
The national initiative is being coordinated by royal pageant master Bruno Peek, CVO OBE OPR. Along with charities supporting the three forces and the Merchant Navy Association, over 100 Care UK homes, including Ambleside, will take part in this nationwide tribute.
The lamp, which represents the peace that followed the end of World War Two, will be lit at 3.30pm by Joyce, who was 17 when she joined the army. Joyce along with other female drivers was responsible for driving top army generals including Franklin D Roosevelt, president of the USA.
Aged 19, Joyce married her husband Oliver, who was the first pilot of Glider No.92, carrying No 2 Platoon of the Coup-de-Main force to Benouville Bridge, over the Caen Canal. He was just 23 when he landed the second glider next to Pegasus Bridge, in Normandy, which led to the bridge over the River Orne being captured intact, contributing to the success of future operations.
The Herald met with the spritely great-grandmother to hear her memories of those remarkable times.
“It’s an honour to be asked to light the lamp of peace,” starts Joyce. “I have some great memories of my time in the army, and I remember this day like it was yesterday.”
Preparations have already began organising the 1940s-themed celebrations in the Ambleside reception. As staff bustled in the background, including seeing to an enormous cake decorated with D-Day scenes, Joyce recalled how she came to Stratford.
“Oliver left the army, seven years after the war, and the important thing was to find a job.
“He was looking at job adverts and found a company called Kalamazoo that helps people who want to start up a business, and started with them.
“Gradually as years went on he got a bit more well known in the company and he did quite well, and stayed with them for 42 years.”
After the war, the couple started a family, and had four daughters – with Joyce dedicating herself to being a full-time mum.
“I enjoyed the army but it was lovely having children,” says Joyce. “I had four children in five years. Sue was the eldest, then Jenny, Judith, and the baby is Rebecca – all girls. When they were all small together it was quite busy.”
Now Joyce has 24 great-grandchildren and the family is scattered all over the world, including Australia, America, and Canada.
“It’s a big family and we keep in touch with each other,” she adds.
Recalling how she first met Oliver while riding her horse near her home in Flintshire, Joyce says: “I had just left school, I was not quite 16, and I was riding my horse and he was in charge of searchlights. As I was riding by he stopped and we had a little chat because it was such a quiet spot in the mountains of Wales. We got friendly, and my mum invited him for tea. We kept in touch and ended up getting married. I was 19 then.”
Ahead of D-Day most of the country, including Joyce, didn’t really have any idea that it would happen.
She says: “I knew he was doing dangerous things, which we couldn’t talk about.
“We did feel that something was going to happen which was important and it turned out to be D-Day. Even though I was in the army too, we couldn’t talk about army things.
“I remember the news came through and the sky was covered with gliders being towed by planes. Everybody went out of their doors and looked up and could see this invasion. It was aircrafts that were going to land in Normandy. That was my most vivid memory.”
Although she couldn’t know for sure, Joyce suspected pilot Oliver was with the mission.
Even after he came back safely, Oliver did not make a big deal of what had happened.
“He was very quiet, he was a great joker and everybody loved him,” says Joyce of her husband who died in 1988 in Pebworth.
“He would go to work and was very quiet about it, he didn’t really talk about it at all.
“So it was such a shock to everybody when we found out about his role. The six men on his mission landed in Normandy before the beach landings – they had already captured the bridge and went to the captain and helped them.
“When they landed there were people badly hurt. There was a little group of them that were going to hold the bridge until the main group took over, and they did a good job.
“They used a café there to send messages to England. There was a little girl in the café, and she was four and a half. Quite recently there was a reunion and she went on television and talked about her life. She stayed in the café and married an Englishman; she’s in her mid-80s and still very glamorous. We are now friends and sent Christmas cards to each other this year.”
Oliver and Joyce regularly attended the D-Day remembrance ceremonies, and became close with all the veteran and wives. During one visit to Normandy she was honoured to meet with King Charles and Camilla, and a keepsake photo of the occasion is still treasured.
Although Oliver received the Croix de Guerre from the French, Joyce thinks there wasn’t enough recognition from the British side.
“They were the first troops in Normandy and are not mentioned.”
Joyce adds: “I think they thought they were more manly if they didn’t talk about it.”
Thinking about the loss of her beloved husband, Joyce says: “He was 67. So many of them died early. I think that was stress. They lived on their nerves all those years. I think it really did affect them. He was a lovely father and a very well liked man, with lots of lovely friends.”
She continues: “On the D-Day anniversary it all comes back to me. The thought that I might not have ever seen Oliver again. I’m always thankful that we were able to get married while the war was on.”
