TWO years after being called up in 1942, Norman Barker would finally see action in Northern France.

But his training and posting as a wireless operator to the 73rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment prepared him well for D-Day.

"There are some things you can't anticipate. But we were so young. On D-Day, I was more amazed than afraid. It was like Alton Towers to the power of n. It was an adventure."

Gunner Barker, now 80, of Meeting Lane, Alcester, landed at Sword beach half a mile north of the village of Hermanville-sur-Mer.

He and his team were due to disembark from a large landing ship at about 8.15am on that momentous morning.

They'd already spent days aboard an American ship, eating nice food but then feeling deeply seasick after a particularly rough crossing.

With the confusion, they were only three hours late.

"I was an idiot. I decided to sit on the roof of our wireless truck as we went in so I could get a better view," said Mr Barker.

"When I remember, I think what a bloody fool I was.

"Immediately we were surrounded by German prisoners.

"It was all happening. The beach was being attacked by shellfire and fighter-bombers. I remember they hit an ammo dump.

"They'd actually predicted 75 per cent casualties for my regiment but as it happened, only three were killed."

But his main reflection on that day is witnessing the overwhelming power of the Allied forces assembled for Operation Overlord - thousands of ships and a massive airforce, all with one aim.

"What the films don't convey is the incredible noise of D-Day," said Mr Barker.

"HMS Warspite was behind us firing 15-inch shells, there were aircraft overhead, rocket ships and shells exploding.

"Everything the Allies had was being brought to bear."

He and his battery made it to Hermanville, where street fighting was continuing but couldn't take up their intended position because it was still occupied by the enemy.

On that day and in those which followed, it would be his battery's job to provide part of the protective screen from enemy aircraft around the Allied beachhead.

"I never shot anyone and wasn't shot at, apart from shells and fighter-bombers. Completely different to the poor guys in the infantry with rifle and bayonet."

After the Allied breakout from the beachhead in August, things moved quickly as the army tore through France and Belgium.

Mr Barker later spent two years as part of the occupying force in Germany, which he hated.

"That was it. I came back in April 1947, non the wiser!"