'Watching the film brought back some sad memories' says 102-year-old D-Day veteran during Preston event
‘ I lost a lot of good friends out there’ He may be 102 years old but World War II veteran Richard Brock remembers D-Day on the Normandy beaches like it was yesterday, reports Katie Parr during a screening at Preston’s Arc Cinema. Video by Libby Earnshaw.
More than eight decades after he stood on Normandy’s beaches as a 20-year-old, Richard Brock is aware of the pressures and realities of war all too well.
Now 102 years-old, he attended Preston’s Arc Cinema for free screening of new film Pressure today exclusively for military veterans, after they were unable to attend the film’s Leicester Square premiere.
Richard, who was in the second wave of landing craft which reached Gold Beach on D-Day, remembered the scenes portrayed in the movie very well.
He said: “Watching the film brought back some sad memories, I lost a lot of good friends out there.
“The film was very good, it showed just how it was. The weather was awful I remember, but we made it up the beach and were there for a few days before we started advancing towards Hamburg.
“We covered 2,000 miles over the next few months.”
The Lancashire Armed Forces Association were invited to the film’s Leicester Square premier, which took place on September 1 , but couldn’t attend - but were delighted to be invited to the Preston event.
Colonel David Waters, president of the Lancashire Armed Forces Association, organised the free screening alongside Arc Cinema and Preston City Council.
He said: “Something like this just pulls everybody in, it’s even more important to hold events like this now when the military are taking a hell of a bashing.
102-year-old World War II veteran Richard Brock, about D-Day
“Veterans, in particular, are feeling angry and disenchanted so it’s more important now than ever that they get through things together”.
The film highlights the reality of war outside of the battlefield, which Colonel Waters thinks is very powerful and “not a bed of roses by any means.”
Attendees also included veterans who served in the Royal Navy, the army and the Royal Airforce, as well as guests from armed forces support groups in Barrowford, Morecambe and Garstang.
The other two Second World War veterans in attendance also were involved with D Day. They were Ken Benbow (Royal Navy, out in the channel on D Day) and Marjorie Hanson, formerly of the auxiliary territorial service, who was involved with providing the logistics for D Day.
Military veteran, Craig Harris served in the army and he praised the film, saying: “It was a very good film and clearly a lot of thought was put into it. I’m interested in war history, and I’ve served in the army, so I know what these guys have been through.”
Colonel Waters encourages veterans to attend the Lancashire Armed Forces Association’s weekly drop in and support hub for military veterans in Preston, known as the Sandbag Café.