LETTERS
D-Day Memory
On an anniversary of the D-Day “Invasion” some decades ago, the Session Clerk of South Leith Parish Church told me of the surprise a friend got when crash-landing onto the Normandy beach.
His battle-experienced unit of the Guards had been withdrawn from the Italian campaign to reinforce the first onslaught, so they had some hours, maybe a day or two, waiting.
Oh, the nerves, the fear, the praying until their turn came – and then the determination as their LST set off.
The sounds and smoke of war were all around them but they could not see what lay ahead.
Then as the landing ship scraped its way on to the beach, the high frontage crashed down and they all rushed out just as they’d practised in Scotland, bayonets fixed, yelling at the top of their voices and throwing themselves flat on to the sand.
Lifting his head to look around, there was a man saying: “Like a cup of tea and a roll? Church of Scotland Canteen…”
Jack Kellet (Rev), Innerleithen
‘Great minds think alike’
After reading Thomas Baldwin’s article in the June issue (“The true measure of fatherhood”), I went back to check my notes for the service I was due to lead on June 16 2024 (Fathers’ Day) at Banchory Ternan East Church in Aberdeenshire.
Sure enough, every element of Thomas’s article appeared also in my notes. A case of “great minds think alike”? Or perhaps, rather, the Holy Spirit moving “in a mysterious way His wonders to perform”?
Grant Lawrence, Banchory, Aberdeenshire
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