A friend sent me an internet link to your article about the 29th Infantry Division (US army unit to have Freedom of Borough).

My father, now nearing 88, was in the US Army Air Force and a D-Day participant. At the time of the invasion he was assigned to a ground radar unit in the 9th Air Force, and was attached to the 29th.

On the morning he went ashore with lead elements of the 29th onto Omaha Beach.

He has shared many fond memories of his time in England, such as the time he and is comrades were under air attack and there was a very large, very close explosion, which filled the air inside the house with dust. The father in the house where he was staying knocked on his bedroom door and asked: "I say there, are you awake?" My father said he was quite awake, thank you.

I hope to have the opportunity to visit England and France for the 2004 celebrations, but much depends on my father's health.

David N Cowan, 10711 Margate Road, Silver Spring, MD 20901, USA