THE D-DAY VC
THOUGH THERE WAS NO SHORTAGE OF ACTS OF OUTSTANDING VALOUR SHOWN ON D-DAY, ONLY ONE MAN WAS AWARDED THE VICTORIA CROSS FOR HIS ACTIONS ON JUNE 6, 1944. JAMES HOARE EXPLORES. ADDITIONAL WORDS BY MARTIN MACE.
“There’s a pillbox over there, Sergeant Major,” noted Major Ronald Lofthouse, 6th Battalion, Green Howards. It was an observation, not an instruction, but 32-year-old CSM Stanley Hollis always led by example. Hip-firing his Sten, Hollis broke cover and charged the bunker Lofthouse had spotted in the scrub. The barrel of the MG-42 jerked and the Germans poured fire on the Yorkshireman with the courage to stand alone.
A native of Middlesbrough who had drifted through various trades, Hollis joined 6th Battalion, Green Howards at the outbreak of war and it was there he found his calling. He knocked out a Tiger in North Africa, narrowly missed a Distinguished Conduct Medal in Sicily and was wounded five times, but always pulled through.
The first infantry to land on Gold Beach were 500 men of 6th Battalion, one of Montgomery’s hand-picked assault battalions. ‘A’ and ‘D’ companies would come ashore on King Green sector, half a mile (750m) west of La Rivière. Their reputation as hard-fighting …
