Published: Thursday, 4th June, 2009 3:00pm

D-Day soldier to join Obama on epic visit

by Rose Harland

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Bernard Sarson (front left) with Royal Artillery Lieutenant Alan Ferrand in Flers de L’Orne in August 1944

VETERAN Bernard Sarson sets foot on the Normandy beaches this week for the first time since the D-Day landings.

The 85-year-old, pictured left, will be alongside Prince Charles and President Barack Obama at Saturday"s memorial service at Bayeux Cathedral to mark 65 years since the Allied Forces began liberating Europe on June 6, 1944.

British, American and Canadian soldiers landed on Normandy beaches and pushed into France.

Mr Sarson, who lives in Caversham, said: 'I always wanted to go back but I"ve always been busy. Then I suddenly realised that it was the 65th anniversary and the last one, because there is hardly anybody left.

'I am absolutely excited about going. I expect there will be quite an atmosphere.'

His role involved scouting occupied territory and after D-Day he led the way inland from the initial beachhead position. Mr Sarson said: 'When we landed, the first shell that came over killed a chap in the same field. There were poor buggers getting killed all around but I was lucky. Reconnaissance sounds glamorous but it wasn"t. An awful lot got killed - I think three quarters of the regiment.'

They were the first to reach the village of Flers de L"Orne and Mr Sarson hopes to return during his weekend pilgrimage to meet Mayor M Yves Goasdoué

Mr Sarson said: 'It had been shelled to blazes. We stepped into this square and suddenly a little crowd came around, people just looking at us. It was extraordinary.

'I am expecting it all to be rebuilt. It was a shambles before.'

Mr Sarson signed up aged 18 in 1940 and went to France with the 3rd British Infantry Division"s 3rd Reconnaissance Regiment (formerly the 8th Battalion, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers).

They went through Holland to Bremen in Germany and Mr Sarson said: 'Germany was absolutely in ribbons. Everybody said, 'We weren"t Nazis". No one was a Nazi! I suppose a lot of them weren"t. I used to absolutely loathe the Germans, but that"s not very Christian.' He was in Germany on VE Day - May 8, 1945 - and feared his next posting would be Japan. Instead he helped refugees in Berlin with the 1st Battalion Green Howards, ending the war with the rank of Lieutenant.

After 1948, Mr Sarson worked for a paint manufacturer in Bombay - now Mumbai - before moving to Reading to work for paint firm John Lines.

He is married to Mary and they have children Michael, Cecilia, Pauline, Jennifer, Nicholas and Philippa, who is driving Mr Sarson to France tomorrow (Friday) with her son Alex.

Mr Sarson said: 'There was a great sense of comradeship in the regiment and the trip is about remembrance.'