Dear Sir,

On the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe, let us remember those Bermudians who fought and those who lost their lives. My late father, Glyn Gilbert, fought from D-Day continuously until the end of the war in Europe.

He recalled when the contingents of the Bermudian Volunteer Rifle Corps totalling 85 arrived to reinforce two Lincolns. They arrived under command of Lieutenant H.H. Smith and Lieutenant A.R. Gosling and then Major Toby Smith.

My father wrote: “I knew they were Bermudian because I could hear them laughing.”

Graham Madeiros recalled: “We were hoping to stick together but the company commander said that was not a good idea, as if we were in a tough battle we could all be wiped out. So we split up. We were known as muckers, an English expression meaning ‘best friends’.”

My father was greatly saddened by the deaths in October 1944 of Major Bertie Dawson, who had been the other Bermudian at D-Day with him, and then his school friend Major Toby Smith. Both had been leading their troops into the attack at Kleindorf. And then in April 1945, in the last days of the war, Private Harry Frost was the last Bermudian killed, while storming a bunker under command of Major Glyn Gilbert.

Major Gilbert, my father, was awarded the Military Cross and was the only rifle company commander in the division who landed on D-Day and was not killed or wounded.

Bermuda should remember all with pride.

ADRIAN GILBERT

Salisbury, England