In 2003, eight Ulstermen – some of the last surviving veterans of the 1944 D-Day invasion of France – were interviewed for the film documentary We Fought on D-Day by DoubleBand Films in Belfast. The author has been given access to previously-unseen interview material not aired in the original film. Delving into the veterans’ testimonies, he reveals previously-untold stories of courage, triumph and tragedy that were endured by a group of ordinary men who each played their part in the greatest invasion in history.

In the process of unravelling these first-hand accounts, the author was confronted with dark truths and the depths of evil against which these men were pitched. And, tragically, he discovered how these men later felt forgotten by the nation they had vowed to serve. He unearthed vital details uncovering the fate of one soldier whose undocumented death had been forgotten. The author tells of how he tracked down the man’s daughter – almost eighty years later – to finally reveal what had happened to her father.

This book is a unique and gritty account of D-Day as seen from the ground – from the point of view of the ordinary soldiers, the men in the slit trench, the men with fears, feelings and emotions expressed in their own way and in their own words.