BROTHERS Nigel and Ian Richards have spoken of their emotional journey back to Normandy to mark the anniversary of D-Day. The pair returned to the beaches where their uncle Harry Hampson landed with his platoon, the 4/7th Royal Dragon Guards, 70 years ago. A radio operator in a Sherman duplex drive 'swimming' tank, he landed with Brigade HQ at Gold beach, just west of Dartmouth's twinned town – Courseulles-sur-Mer. 'On June 6, 1944, tanks of 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards were among the first to land and their task was to disable key enemy beach defences and then move rapidly inland to Creully,' said Nigel, a computer software company director from Cornworthy. On their trip, Nigel and Ian met up with the only surviving member of Harry's regiment, Trooper Cecil Newton, now aged 92. In his book A Trooper Tale, Mr Newton, who lives in Marlborough, Wiltshire, said the 4/7th had an unenviable role for the invasion with their DD Shermans, but the troop was fortunate in being able to get ashore on a helpful tide. Nigel said: 'Cecil's arrival, however, proved rather uneventful, for his tank pitched into a shell crater and, being firmly stuck, there it remained for the rest of the morning. 'So, in true British tradition, he did what was expected and brewed up tea for his tank crew.' Nigel and Ian, who lives in Cornwall, had to apply for security passes to attended many of commemorative events in Normandy but when they did not arrive set off at dawn and rode their motorbikes 20 miles through back lanes to arrived before 6am to pay their respects at Gold beach and Creully. 'It would certainly have prevented us from attending all events but by entering the restricted zone before it was sealed off 6am we were invited to join the veterans' coach going to all three events,' said Nigel. 'It was particularly poignant being the 70th and among veterans knowing it was the end of an era. 'The next day we were guests at another lunch – this time hosted by the mayor of Lingevres – the next village to be liberated after a fierce tank battle against German Panzers in which many of the regiment's soldiers died. 'The Normandy Veterans' Association disbands in November so this too will be our final visit.' Nigel added: 'Uncle Harry's 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards regiment was known as "The First and the Last" because, during the Second World War, it was the first in and last out. 'Always at the front, it suffered appalling losses. I think 276 were killed and another 150 wounded between D-Day and the German surrender on May 8, 1945.'