The Sunderland tank driver who made headlines on D-Day
‘The newspaper boys were besieged and there was great animation’
It was the day when history unfolded on the beaches of Normandy - and heroes from Sunderland played a vital part.
The D-Day landings had long been awaited in 1944 but they finally arrived on June 6.
It prompted incredible scenes on the battlefront and on Wearside.
Sunderland people clamoured to get the latest news from D-Day by besieging the Echo’s newspaper sellers.
Locals came out on the streets to buy papers as fast as the newspaper deliverers could hand them over, as this 80-year-old photo shows.
The day that history was made
Under a headline of ‘Echo in demand’, the story shared the page with an eye-witness report on the D-Day landings.
It came from a journalist who was in a bomber plane over Normandy. He said: “I saw great naval and shore engagements getting under way.
“A few miles inland, I saw fields strewn with hundreds of parachutes where Allied airborne forces had dropped.”
Shaking hands with an Allied friend
Echo readers were given a report on the layout of the battlefield.
There was a separate story on the Allied plans launching ten attacks overnight, each with 100 bombers.
There was page after page of detailed accounts.
In another piece, the incredible bond between the Allies was revealed in a photo from 80 years ago - showing a Sunderland man who helped to liberate Europe.
Jack Marlborough was serving as a tank driver in 1944 and the Echo caught up with him in France.
He was shaking hands with Private Slim Harrison from the Canadian Infantry who was one of the first men to go through the Hitler Line.
Elsewhere in the paper, there was a detailed account of General Eisenhower’s stirring speech to his troops.
He said: “The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.”
10-year-old who raised money for the war effort
There was news closer to home as well.
Wetherells Rooms held a dance to raise money for the Prisoner of War Fund with music provided by Mr JM Haswell.
Ten year old Florence Hopper held a jumble sale and raised £1 for the Red Cross.
By June 7, 1944, the Allies held more than 50 miles of coastline.
Excitement mounted as the Echo hit the streets
And more details about the reaction of Sunderland people to the news of the landings began to emerge.
The early reports of invasion had been treated calmly by locals.
“Then it seemed to dawn on the people that the beginning of the invasion was really something to get excited about.
“The newspaper boys were besieged and there was great animation even among those who did not enter the rugby-pack in an effort to get a copy of the paper,” said the Echo.