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

d-day Racing remembrance sunday

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 

d-day Racing remembrance sunday

READ MORE

Tadej Pogačar to Paris-Roubaix 2025 – Legendary or laughable?

Tadej Pogačar to Paris-Roubaix 2025 – Legendary or laughable?

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has teased his participation on social media, but is it legitimate possibility?

Read more
James Knox at the British Road Championships

‘Credit should go to Lefevere for working the market’ - James Knox on Soudal–Quick-Step’s evolution from the cobbles to Tour de France contenders

Now in his sixth year with the Belgian squad, the British rider discusses what has changed following the arrival and performances of Remco Evenepoel

Read more
Portrait of Lukas Nerurkar

‘An altitude camp at the age of seven’ – Lukas Nerurkar on the power of doing things differently

The British rider had a unique upbringing, spending his early childhood in Ethiopia and learning from his marathon runner father – he tells Rouleur about...

Read more
Women's UAE Tour

Women’s UAE Tour 2025: Who will win the four-stage race in the Middle East?

The third edition of the Women's WorldTour race will begin on Thursday, February, 6 2025 

Read more
Rob Stannard

Robert Stannard: Lost, fined, and fighting for redemption

The Australian rider speaks to Rouleur about his turbulent past 18 months 

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