Remembrance: D-Day, seasickness and an unloaded pistol

Remembrance: D-Day, seasickness and an unloaded pistol

The 2016 Tour de France paid tribute to the soldiers of D-Day in Normandy. Our own tribute from issue 63 of Rouleur


June 6, 1944.

Captain Cyril Hendry finally landed his Churchill tank on the beach at Graye-sur-Mer following 24 hours of bobbing around in the English Channel alongside the rest of the D-Day flotilla, sick to the gills and apprehensive of what lay ahead.

As an army regular, Hendry had trained for years for just this moment, rising through the ranks with the 26 Armoured Engineer Squadron tasked with supporting the Canadian infantry assault on Juno Beach.

Their tanks were known as “funnies” – rather incongruously for weapons of war – each with their own adapted speciality for clearing the beachhead: some carrying fascines, huge bundles of brushwood tightly bound and ready to fill trenches or craters; others with flails protruding from the front of the tank to clear a path through minefields; still others towing armoured fuel trailers to supply the terrifying flamethrower positioned in the Churchill’s hull in place of its machine gun.

Hendry’s own tank carried a 30-foot section of box girder bridge, laid across the initial bank of dunes to enable his fellow tank commanders to escape the beach and secure the area for the Canadian infantry alongside. 

The lead tank, “One Charlie”, careered down a massive water-filled crater and sank. Its six-man crew all escaped the vehicle, but four were killed by enemy fire and two badly wounded.

Hendry and the remaining tanks set about clearing the German pillboxes, turning their guns on the defensive positions. Resistance ceased. Hendry instructed his driver to pull up next to a fortified building, disguised as an ice cream parlour. Drawing his pistol, he clambered down onto the sand and shouted out an order to surrender.

One man emerged, hand on head. Then another, then another, until 20 prisoners were taken from this single gun position. It was at this point Hendry realised that, whilst vomiting copiously in the flotilla’s holding position out in the Channel, he had completely forgotten to load his pistol…

One Charlie disappeared in the dunes of Graye-sur-Mer over the years, only to re-emerge in 1976, when it was recovered, rebuilt and repainted, now standing proudly on the beach close to where it slipped into that crater 32 years earlier. The men of 26 Armoured Engineer Squadron make regular trips across the water to renovate and repair the memorial, keeping it fittingly pristine. 

Captain Hendry and his men would visit Graye-sur-Mer for every D-Day commemoration as long as they were able, guests of the mayor and a host of townsfolk who welcomed them into their homes annually and became good friends. 

Hendry drove his Churchill tank across Europe, via the horror camp at Bergen-Belsen, all the way to Berlin. 

How do I know all this? Captain Cyril “Jimmy” Hendry was my father-in-law.

Cyril James Hendry MBE  12th September 1913 – 21st November 2007

First published in issue 63 of Rouleur 


READ MORE

EF Education-EasyPost riders at the Tour de France 2025

Tour de France 2025 team ratings: How all 23 squads stack up on the first rest day

Rouleur assesses the best and the worst-performing teams after 10 days of racing

Read more
Tadej Pogacar

Powerplay: Tadej Pogačar puts on show of strength in the face of Visma's numerical force

World champion may have relinquished the race lead for the second time at this Tour, but he still remains in the driving seat

Read more
Tour de France 2025 stage 11

‘We are the underdogs, so we have to be creative’ - A tactical masterclass or blunder from Visma-Lease a Bike at the Tour de France?

The Dutch team rode an aggressive race on stage 10 which ultimately gave them the day’s victory with Simon Yates, but failed to crack an...

Read more
Ben Healy

‘His power file is extraordinary’ - Ben Healy and the magic of yellow

Inside the EF Education-EasyPost rider's monster effort on stage 10 of the Tour de France, which has put him in the yellow jersey going into...

Read more
Simon Yates

Watts Occurring, Tour de France stage 10: A new yellow jersey and the best Yates we've ever seen?

Listen to the latest episode of Watts Occurring with Tom Fordyce and Luke Rowe

Read more
Tour de France 2025 stage 11 preview: Sprint or breakaway?

Tour de France 2025 stage 11 preview: Sprint or breakaway?

A smattering of climbs in the final half of the stage could be enough to foil the sprinters' chances of a rare bunch finish in...

Read more

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE