List of Officers and other ranks who embarked here with the unit on the 4 June 1944

Roll of Honour

It was close to here the unit embarked for D-Day, on 6 June 1944, in DD Sherman Tanks

4/7 Royal Dragoon Memorial 

List of Officers and other ranks who embarked here with the Unit on the 4 June 1944

Memorial Plaques

​​The memorial is located along the trails from Lepe country park, which lead onto Lepe Embarkation Area and the Mulberry Construction site.&nbsp;​The stone memorial sits on top of a concrete block near the Mulberry Construction site and is made up of several plaques and panels. It is located here because this was the embarkation point for the British 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards before they headed across to Normandy for D-Day. On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon landed on Gold Beach. The memorial includes two panels that list the officers and other ranks than formed the unit that landed.&nbsp;​One anomaly visible on the memorial is the name of Major Fitzwilliams-Hyde. He was attached to the 1st East Riding Yeomanry and landed on Sword Beach on D-Day. He was wounded on 21 June following a German mortar strike and died shortly after from his wounds. He is now buried at the La Delivrande War Cemetery in Normandy. Interestingly, although he served with the 1st East Riding Yeomanry, his commonwealth war graves headstone insignia engraving is of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards.​&nbsp;​Among the 4th/7th Royal Dragoons that landed on Gold Beach on D-Day, there two Squadrons of were equipped with Duplex Drive Sherman Tanks. Before the landings, in April that year, the 4th/7th Royal Dragoons had taken part in ‘Exercise Smash’. The exercise followed the Unit’s already intense amphibious training using Duplex Drive (DD) Valentine Tanks and Sherman Tanks. The DD Tanks were floating tanks. They were top secret and formed an essential part of the Allied plans for the first waves of landings on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.&nbsp;​‘Exercise Smash’ gave those using DD tanks the opportunity to practice a landing. It took place near Studland Bay, further along the coast in Poole. During this exercise, six of the DD Valentine tanks being used sunk, and six men died alongside them. They are remembered with honour on the Brookwood Memorial, located in the city of Woking, Surrey. Their names are:&nbsp;​Lieutenant Gould&nbsp;​Sargeant Hartely&nbsp;​Corporal Park&nbsp;​Corporal Townson&nbsp;​Trooper Kirby&nbsp;​Trooper Petty&nbsp;

Monument 4e/7e Royal Dragoon Guards

Lepe Country Park, Lepe Road, Lepe, SO45 1AD, Southampton, England

Photos