Hunstanton boatman set to drive DUKW at D-Day anniversary

Ryan Hayward, 23, is a crew member on  board the Wash Monster - a former landing craft from the Vietnam War operated by Searles Sea Tours, which carries passengers on sea trips off Hunstanton.

Ryan Hayward on board the Wash Monster at Hunstanton (Image: Chris Bishop)

Over the weekend, he'll be setting off for France, where he will drive a 1940s DUKW vehicle to commemorate the first stage of the Allied operation to free Europe from Hitler's Nazis on June 6, 1944.

"I've always wanted to go, it's always been a dream," said Mr Hayward. "I feel very honoured and privileged to be going to pay my respects to those who fell."

Ryan Hayward (left) with Searles Sea Tours owner William Searle at Hunstanton (Image: Chris Bishop)

Mr Hayward will be driving a the amphibious truck on a tour of the invasion coastline, before it lays thousands of red roses off Arromanches or Gold Beach, where it is believed to have landed in 1944.

Some 4,000 Allied soldiers were killed and 11,000 injured during the first day of what was known as Operation Overlord.

The DUKW pictured at Hunstanton in 2019 (Image: Chris Bishop)

The  DUKW - or "duck" - was bought by Searles Sea Tours in 1947, two years after the end of the war.

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The family-owned company paid £5 for the vehicle but had to promise to give it back to the military in the event another conflict flared in which it might be needed to return to work.

The DUKW pictured off Hunstanton in 2019, when D-Day veteran Ernie Covill, who passed away three years later at the age of 97, laid roses in the sea (Image: Chris Bishop)

The DUKW was a familiar sight off Hunstanton until the late 1990s, when it was replaced by the larger Wash Monster carrying passengers on tours along the coast and seal trips out to Wash sandbanks.

In 2015 it was sold to Lincolnshire hotelier Harold Payne, who restored it to its original Second World War condition, spending £75,000 on everything from a replacement diesel engine to new tyres.

The DUKW was bought by Lincolnshire hotelier Harold Payne, who restored it

Mr Payne, 83, from Holbeach, has organised trips to Normandy for more than 30 years, starting out with parties of veterans who saw action during the landings.

This year, there are believed to be no more surviving in Norfolk or Lincolnshire and the visit may be his last. 

Commemorations are planned across the northern French coast, including military displays, parades, services and unveiling of memorials.

Troops swarm ashore during the D-Day landings (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Payne's DUKW will visit the beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Gold and Sword, before going to sea off Arromanches at low tide, at 4am, to lay thousands of red roses in memory of those who did not return.

"When the tide comes in on June 6 at 4am, they'll come ashore," said Mr Payne.

"I've asked Ryan to help me drive it because I've had shingles for the last 18 months and I'm in a bit of pain. I know he'll be a good lad."

William Searle (left) and Ryan Hayward with the Wash Monster at Hunstanton (Image: Chris Bishop)

My Hayward began working for Searles three years ago. He said he had wanted to join the crew on the Wash Monster since seeing the vessel on family trips from his former home in Leicestershire.

"My family used to holiday at Searles and we used to go on the Wash Monster," he said.

"I'm hoping to work my way up to driving it now."  

DUKW's UNIQUE INVASION ROLE

A DUKW carries soldiers and supplies across the Waal River at Nijmegen, Holland, after the landings (Image: Public Domain)

As well as helping to ferry troops and equipment ashore during the Normandy landings, the so-called duck often played a vital role as the Allies forged inland.

For the craft could carry soldiers and equipment across rivers where bridges had been blown up by the retreating Germans.

It could manage 6mph on water and up to 50mph on the road.

The DUKW could travel at up to 50mph by road (Image: US Army)

Some 2,000 were given to UK forces by the Americans under the so-called Lend-Lease programme under which the US supplied military equipment from 1941.

Some survived after the war, such as the Hunstanton DUKW which is now on its way back to Normandy.

Its name came is believed to have come from manufacturer General Motors' terminology, denoting D for its 1942 production run, U for utility, K for all-wheel drive and W for tandem rear axles.