Ref. 25586-72RETURN TO THE BEACH FEATURE: THERE was a special treat for our three vets when in an unplanned ceremony they came across a band of young Americans who were in Normandy for study purposes.

Thanks to the films Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers the Second World War has become big business in the USA at least the period after 1941 when they decided it was time to get involved.

If you enroll in college then you can study D-Day as a special course and this group of 40 young people were doing their field trip visiting the battle sites and various mounu-ments.

For them to meet three men who were actually there on D-Day was icing on the cake.

Bill, Roy and Eddie had to sign autographs, pose for photographs and even write their names on pieces of clothing such as hats and T-shirts.

"You can't believe what an honour this is for me and my students," said Prof Stephen Bourque of the California State University in Northridge. Stephen is a former regular soldier and an expert on the D-Day landings.

He had brought his charges back to the place where so many of his fellow Americans died, to learn and not to forget how they helped to make Europe the haven it is today.

They were treated well by the people of France, irrespective of the current problems in the Gulf, but then the Second World War was always something of an embarrassment for the French so they can't afford to be arrogant with their liberators.