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Bill Wake: 'We were all prepared to die'

Bill Wake, from Ulgham, near Morpeth, Northumberland, was an 18-year-old medical orderly when the largest seaborne invasion in history took place on 6 June 1944.

He had just finished training and was stationed on the south coast when he was told he would be leaving on an LST tank landing ship.

Once the tanks rolled off, he helped collect the wounded.

Bill died at the age of 99 in December 2024.

We Were There aims to collect as many first-hand accounts as possible by 2025, the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, to preserve veterans' accounts for future generations.

The BBC is currently working on the project with a number of partners including the Normandy Memorial Trust and Royal British Legion. Some of the stories collected may be shared with our partners and used on BBC News platforms.

If you have a story to share, or know someone who does, please click here to tell us a little bit more or use one of the methods below.

Do you or someone you know have memories of World War Two? Please share these experiences by emailing [email protected].

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

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