D-Day mission to keep grandad’s 80-year promise: Army veteran will sail to Juno Beach to return a handful of sand scooped for luck by his late relative on the day of Normandy landings in 1944

As his Army issue boots hit the sands of Juno Beach on 6th June 1944 Second Lieutenant Gilbert Jones bent down and scooped up a handful for luck.

He put his D-Day talisman in a tin and kept it in his backpack for the rest of the war. Back home on his native Merseyside he would never speak of the carnage of those landings or the comrades he lost in Operation Overlord. But to honour them, and to give thanks for his own life, the young officer promised himself that, one day, he would take the sand back.

Sadly, time would catch up with him. When he died aged 98 the sand was still in the old ice cream tub where he’d hidden it, locked inside a metal trunk filled with military memorabilia. Now however, his grandson, an Army veteran who’s seen action in the Balkans, East Africa and the Gulf, is set to complete his grandfather’s final mission.

On 6th June next year, the 80th anniversary of the landings, Dan Searson, who served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, will sail to Juno Beach, wade through the Normandy waters, and return the sand in his own personal act of remembrance.

‘I’d always known my grandfather had a couple of metal military boxes – he cleared one out and gave it to me when I went to Sandhurst,’ remembers Dan, 47, from Liverpool. ‘But I never knew what was in the second. Like many men of his generation he was guarded about D-Day and the Normandy Campaign. He was a warm, loving man who cherished his children and grandchildren, he wasn’t cold or secretive, he just didn’t want to share it with us. I think he felt it was his burden, not ours.

Second Lieutenant Gilbert Jones’ grandson Dan Searson (pictured) is set to complete his grandfather’s final mission

The World War Two soldier landed on Juno Beach on 6th June 1944, bending down and scooping up a handful for luck. pictured: Gilbert (stood, centre) in France in 1944

 To honour his fallen comrades, and to give thanks for his own life, the young officer promised himself that, one day, he would take the sand back

When Dan’s grandfather died aged 98 the sand was still in the old ice cream tub where he’d hidden it, locked inside a metal trunk filled with military memorabilia

Dan (pictured during his service in Bosnia 1999) is himself an Army veteran who’s seen action in the Balkans, East Africa and the Gulf, serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps

Back home on his native Merseyside he would never speak of the carnage of those landings or the comrades he lost in Operation Overlord. Pictured from left to right: Dan’s wife Helen Searson , grandmother Margaret Jones, grandfather Gilbert and Dan 

‘Four or five years before he died we were having a beer together and he told me: ‘I’ve got something I need to take back to the Beach …’ I would have gladly taken him but by then he was too frail. All I could do was to commit to doing it for him.

‘When he died he left the box to me. Inside I found his Sam Brown, his stable belt, his D-Day whistle and a ledger with the names of all of his men in it, as well as his hand drawn maps showing the precise details of the Juno Beach landings.

‘My grandfather was a Royal Engineer, it was his job to shift men and munitions and kit safely from sea to land. Seeing the maps he’d held in his hands on D-Day gave me goosebumps. It was only after I’d lifted them out that, underneath a copy of the newspaper from June 7th 1944 which my grandmother had saved for his homecoming, I found his box of sand and pebbles.

‘Closure is not the kind of word the fighting men and women of his generation would have used back in the 1940s and 1950s but that’s what this was for him. He always collected a pebble or a shell wherever he went, and he encouraged us to do the same. He was incredibly sentimental about doing it, it was a ritual for him. Now I know why.

‘So I’ll take his Juno Beach sand back for him and replace it at 06.30am on 6th June 2024, 80 years to the minute since the landings. It will be closure for my grandfather and his war service, closure for my own 30-year Army career and my last good bye to him.’

Gil joined the Royal Artillery in 1938 before transferring to the Royal Engineers. As well as fighting in Europe, he also served in Burma and, after being demobbed at the end of the war, signed up as a reservist. He put his uniform back on for the Suez Crisis in 1956 and remained in the reserves until 1963, rising to the rank of Major.

On 6th June next year, the 80th anniversary of the landings, Dan Searson will sail to Juno Beach, wade through the Normandy waters, and return the sand in his own personal act of remembrance

As well as fighting in Europe, he also served in Burma and, after being demobbed at the end of the war, signed up as a reservist. He put his uniform back on for the Suez Crisis in 1956 and remained in the reserves until 1963, rising to the rank of Major. Pictured: Gilbert in 1944

A shipping clerk before the war, he returned to his peace time employer Coast Line, remaining there when it was bought by P&O, and eventually retiring as a regional director. Pictured: Gilbert during his service – back row, fourth from the left

His grandson was commissioned in 1997, joining the RAMC as a Medical Support Officer, and rising to the rank of Captain. Pictured: Dan (second from right) with his colleagues during his service in Iraq

A shipping clerk before the war, he returned to his peace time employer Coast Line, remaining there when it was bought by P&O, and eventually retiring as a regional director. Gil was married to his war time sweetheart Margaret for 70 years. She died in November 2015 and he passed away less than a year later, just four days after celebrating his 98th birthday in October 2016.

Dan remembers: ‘He was a very involved grandfather, he would take me out hiking, put up tents in the back garden, teach me about nature, tie knots with me and then we’d light a campfire and cook our dinner together. We were so close. It was because of him that I applied for an an Army scholarship at 16, and set the course for my own life of military service.

‘Throughout my childhood he enthralled me with all his stories of army camaraderie and adventure – but he wouldn’t talk about D-Day, he never wanted to discuss it with the people he loved most.’

Perhaps this isn’t surprising for after the American bloodbath on Omaha Beach, the 14,000 Canadian forces and 6,400 British troops who took Juno suffered the heaviest losses by sea. They were nonetheless successful, fighting their way to a rendezvous with British forces which had landed on either side of them, on Sword and Gold Beaches.

Second Lieutenant Jones was among the thousands who helped establish a bridgehead that reached the main railway line and the strategically important road to Caen. By the end of the first day of fighting, the forces he helped land on Juno were further into France than those from any other beach.

His grandson was commissioned in 1997, joining the RAMC as a Medical Support Officer, and rising to the rank of Captain. He served around the world in the regular army and as a reservist, finally working as a military liaison officer during the Covid pandemic.

Dan served around the world in the regular army and as a reservist, finally working as a military liaison officer during the Covid pandemic

Second Lieutenant Jones was among the thousands who helped establish a bridgehead that reached the main railway line and the strategically important road to Caen. Pictured: Gilbert (first on the left) in France in 1944

By the end of the first day of fighting, the forces he helped land on Juno were further into France than those from any other beach. Pictured: Gilbert in 1944

Today Dan runs Challenge The Wild, a company which specialises in providing outdoor events and supporting the military veterans community. Pictured: Dan with some war mapping memorabilia that his grandfather owned

Today Dan runs Challenge The Wild, a company which specialises in providing outdoor events and supporting the military veterans community. He is also a military ambassador for veterans’ charity Walking With The Wounded.

To raise funds for WWTW, he’s hoping to take a small team of veterans with him on his expedition to Juno Beach, leaving from Sir Winston Churchill’s home Chartwell in Kent, landing on Juno, and then hiking a series of celebrated war routes through France, Luxembourg and Holland, totalling more than 200 miles. The expedition will conclude at Arnhem.

‘It’s the kind thing my grandfather would have loved,’ Dan says. ‘He believed in resilience and the strength we have inside ourselves, no matter what we’re facing. He took the sand to keep his courage up, and I reckon after 80 years, it’s mission accomplished.’

To find out more about Dan’s D-Day Expedition or to donate go to https://ddayexpedition.co.uk/ and www.challengethewild.com

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