“ We ’ d done a small expedition for the 75th anniversary and were blown away by the amount of interest people were showing in us , and so we thought , why don ’ t we get a group together and paddle across the Channel for the 80th ? ”
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“ We ’ d done a small expedition for the 75th anniversary and were blown away by the amount of interest people were showing in us , and so we thought , why don ’ t we get a group together and paddle across the Channel for the 80th ? ”
doing behind the scenes , and so we wanted to do this to draw attention to the unsung heroes and people who made it possible – both today and 80 years ago .”
HASLER NAVAL SERVICE RECOVERY CENTRE
Lee , who was medically discharged from the Royal Marines having been badly wounded in Afghanistan and subsequently developed depression and combatrelated PTSD , joined these expeditions as part of his rehabilitation through the Hasler Naval Service Recovery Centre , which serves as a dedicated facility for the rehabilitation and recovery of serving Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel who have been injured or become ill as a result of their service . Through this rehabilitation , Lee retrained to become an advanced sea kayaking guide , which the RMA funded .
So when the 80th anniversary of D-Day came around , and potentially the last opportunity to commemorate a major anniversary of the landings with living veterans from WWII , Lee and Joe were certain that they wanted to mark the occasion . Lee comments , “ We ’ d done a small expedition for the 75th anniversary and were blown away by the amount of interest people were showing in us , and so we thought , why don ’ t we get a group together and paddle across the Channel for the 80th ? Our first expedition highlighted the small tasks that were actually mammoth that people were
BOOTNECKS
Lee continued , “ We couldn ’ t have organised it without the Royal Marines network – as something we were organising off our own backs , we had to call in a lot of favours ! But this isn ’ t new to us – we all come from humble origins and have had to provide everything ourselves , so we made it work like Bootnecks ( the traditional nickname for Royal Marines ) make operations work . This old Bootneck network was crucial , whether that was in sourcing the military-spec suits for the paddle or our contacts at the Port of London Authority , who allowed us to paddle through London beforehand and under Tower Bridge .
“ We really leant on this network and were helped out by old friends we ’ d worked with for many years – all of whom helped us without hesitation and made it work , no questions asked . This even extended to getting us a dedicated LCU ( landing craft utility ) from 47 Commando , which we later joined for their re-enactment of the D-Day landings on Gold Beach . This was key in our successful completion of the paddle – without this LCU , we wouldn ’ t have been able to put seven kayaks in the water .”
Having cobbled together the men , materials , and kayaks for the crossing , the group departed the Royal Marines Yomper at Eastney , Portsmouth , in two-man Klepper folding kayaks on 3 June . They aimed to cross the English Channel through the night and arrive in Port-en-Bessin on 4 June 2024 . As the crow flies , there is 160km between those two points ; in the end , the group paddled a route of over 200km due to winds and currents .
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