PW-2-2026

Focus on the SIGs – Motorcycle SIG

Saving Private Ryan. In the cemetery there are buried 45 brothers, two of these being Robert and Preston Niland, who are buried next to each other. Saving Private Ryan was based on the story of the Nilands. Two survived the war but, for a time, only one, Frederick “Fritz” Niland, was believed to have survived. After the reported deaths of his three brothers, Fritz was sent back to the United States to complete his service, and only later learned that his brother Edward, missing and presumed dead, was captive in a Japanese POW camp in Burma. Also buried there is Theodore Rooservelt Jnr, who won the Medal of Honor at Utah beach. Buried next to him is his brother Quentin, who was a pilot in WW1 and was killed on 14 July 1918. He was moved and buried next to Theodore in 1955. It was then on to Omaha and Utah beaches, to explain the action that took place on both beaches. Omaha was deadly for those involved: whilst the landings on Utah suffered far fewer casualties, after the landing craft in the initial wave, they landed 2000 yards from where they should have, due to the wind and current. This was fortunate as this part of the beach was less well defended. Amongst this wave was Theodore Rooservelt. It was his actions on the beach here that won him the Medal of Honor.

after the wounded soldiers. When the Germans recaptured the village, they saw that they were treating their soldiers and respected the neutrality of the church. Despite having limited equipment only two died from their wounds. Even today the blood stains can still be seen on the pews. Our next visit of the day was to the German Cemetery at La Cambe. It is the largest German war cemetery in Normandy and contains the remains of 21,245 German military personnel. Initially, American and German dead were buried in adjacent fields, but American dead were later disinterred and either returned to the US or re-interred at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, 15 km (9.3 mi) away. After the war over 12,000 German dead were moved from approximately 1,400 field burials across Normandy to La Cambe.

I then decided to make a stop at Brecourt Manor, which was featured in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. Under the command of Lt. Dick Winters, Easy Company from the 101st Airborne attacked four German artillery guns that were firing onto the troops landing on Utah beach. Today the site is just a hedgerow in a farmer’s field. The tactics used are still mentioned at Westpoint today. Just a short ride away from Brecourt Manor was the Church of Saint Côme and Saint Damien in the tiny hamlet of Angoville-au-Plain. This was used as an aid station by two medics, Robert E. Wright and Kenneth J. Moore, of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. They used it from 6th-8th June 1944 and treated 80 casualties, both American and German, over that period. The village changed hands three times, despite this they chose to stay and look

As the weather gods were against us, it was raining, and time was getting on so we decided to miss the last stop of the day. This was the CWGC cemetery in Bayeux, which was a short walk from our hotel. We decided to visit it on Thursday. Here I spoke about the history of the CWGC and the various items that are in each cemetery, The final stop was to visit the grave of Corporal Sidney Bates VC. He was killed on 6th August 1944, after his section was pinned down by enemy fire. He charged at the Germans repeatedly, before being mortally wounded. His actions caused the Germans to withdraw. The feedback from the group was positive and I’ve agreed to do another tour in 2027, this time Operation Market Garden, immortalised by the film ‘A Bridge Too Far’.

POLICE WORLD Vol 71 No.2, 2026

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