downsmail.co.uk


WWII brothers receive awards for their service


THE oldest surviving brothers who took part in D-Day during WorldWar II have been honoured. Ernest Dale (90), now living in Ditton, and his 94-year-old brother Johnny, ofOrpington, fought on D- Day and spent three months off the beaches of Normandy. Ernest, liais- ing with British spotter planes,was responsible for directing the guns at the German beachside bunker targets and incoming enemy air- craft, while Johnny was an ammu- nition supplier in the cordite room. The two seamen even ended up


going ashore to take fresh bread to their cousin on Juno beach after he managed to send amessage to their ship, HMS Frobisher. They per- suading the ship’s baker to make bread which they took ashore on a passing amphibious “duck”. Ernest recalled: “We took about


12 fresh loaves ashore, andwewere popular. By the timewe found him, we only had two left.” His brother said: “Itwas scary, butwewere too young to be truly afraid.” The pair, who visited the D-Day


Ernest and Johnny Dale re- ceive their awards fromNick Mottershead of The Bradford Exchange at Chatham Historic Dockyard


landing sites earlier this year,were presented with awards by The Lest We Forget Charity Association, working with The Bradford Ex- change. The ceremony was at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham, where their ship returned for major repair after being torpedoed with the loss of nine crew members. Describing how close the broth-


ers came to death, Ernest said: “There were coloured buoys in the water which the Germans put there as range finders. If you found your- self near any of these you could ex- pect to be fired upon or hit.”


It took five minutes to turn the


ship around once the sailors re- alised they were sitting targets. Ernest said: “Thankfully none of the 60 shells that were fired at us scored a direct hit that day. Two crew members standing together watching the action lost arms dur- ing the attack after being hit by shrapnel.” The brothers survived more ex-


ploits before the end of the war when both came home and had families. Ernest returned to work as a carpenter and Johnny became a BT executive.


News Collect stamps


to save babies WHEN the usual raft of Christmas cards start dropping through your door, spare a thought for a woman in Nettlestead who needs to collect 20 kilos of used stamps. Rebecca Pullen has set herself the challenge of collecting the pile of postage stamps by January 1 as part of an effort to save little lives – and needs all the help she can get. Rebecca is a regional collector for


Count The Kick, a charity which aims to educate mums-to-be on the importance of monitoring baby movements. Twenty kilos of used stamps will provide enough funds to educate 10,000 pregnant women across the UKabout the importance of seeking medical advicewhena change to the normal pattern of kicking occurs. Rebecca will be thrilled to take all


those Christmas stamps off your hands, as the challenge means she has less than a month to collect 110,000 stamps! Contact Rebecca via Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/CTKRe- cyclingMaidstone or email her at rlpullen@hotmail.co.uk For more information on Count


the Kicks, visit www.countthe- kicks.org.ukd


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Malling December 2014 3


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