Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

90 New faces diet of football in the winter and cricket during the summer. Jim was extremely lucky to still be involved in post-war cricket, having been amongst the many thousands of brave soldiers involved in Operation Overland, sailing across to the Normandy shore on D-Day itself, 6 th June 1944. At the time, he was serving in the Royal Corps of Signals and together with his telecommunication duties, Pleass was helping to pilot one of the landing craft when the giant flotilla of vessels of all shapes and sizes made their journey across the English Channel. As he later recalled, “We had arrived at a point a hundred yards off-shore from the Normandy coast at Arromanches, or Gold Beach as it was designated in the D-Day Plans. The grey sky was lit up by the flashes of rockets, plus shells of all sizes, and what seemed like hundreds of flares. The sea was scarcely to be seen, covered as it was by a vast array of ships, some of them firing at coastal targets, and others disgorging an army of men into smaller craft which hurriedly made for shore to lower their ramps and remove their human cargo. Enemy activity consisted of the few remaining strongpoints firing their “88s” at the fleet, but doing little damage before they were eliminated.” “Once the beachhead was established, our job was to link beach signallers with the heavily armed cruisers and the like, directing their fire at pin-pointed targets. Within forty eight hours all was secure, and our work was done. For the next few days, we patrolled the area just off the beaches, and the only real danger came from mines dropped by German planes at night, which did cause some damage.” 3 But he might never have made it to the Normandy beaches had it not been for a massive slice of luck: “As we were approaching the Normandy coast, a small landing craft, carrying a group of senior officers, sped past us on our starboard side. It swiftly cut across our bows after passing in front of us but then promptly hit a mine and disintegrated into nothing. Had it not been for the landing craft going in front of us, we would have reached this point within another minute. The only evidence of the disaster was a motley collection of ripped clothing and headgear floating on the surface. There, but for the grace of God indeed.” 4 Jim returned to Cardiff and during the summers of 1946 and 1947 benefited from the improved practice and coaching facilities at the