Near to the impressive medieval castle at Creully – inland of the British Gold Beach D-Day landing sector – you can find this memorial to the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, a regiment which saw action in Dunkirk, Normandy, Holland, and finished the war in Germany.

Formed in 1922, the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards were a cavalry regiment which mechanised in 1938 and was deployed to France and Belgium as part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939.

Pushed back during the battle for France, they abandoned their Vickers MkVI light tanks and evacuated back to England via Dunkirk, landing on home soil on June 3, 1940.

They re-equipped with amphibious Valentine and Sherman DD tanks, and took part in the D-Day landings, debarking on Gold Beach at 7:20am on June 6, 1944, and later that day liberating the small town of Creully.

The memorial reads: “IN PROUD MEMORY OF THE 4TH/7TH ROYAL DRAGOON GUARDS WHO LIVED OR DIED IN THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM LANDING IN FRANCE SEPTEMBER 1939, WITHDRAWING THROUGH DUNKIRK JUNE 1940, RETURNING TO NORMANDY TO ASSAULT KING BEACH LA RIVIERE AT H HOUR ON D DAY 6TH JUNE 1944, TO LIBERATE CREULLY LATER THAT DAY AND IN DUE COURSE TO ASSIST IN BRINGING THE FIGHT TO A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION”