Brothers in arms: Navy veterans are 'oldest surviving siblings who fought on D-Day'

Heroic Ernie and Johnny Dale are real brothers in arms - as the oldest surviving brothers who fought on D-Day.

Ernie, 90, and brother Johnny, 94, were Able seamen on board HMS Frobisher and fought to open the gateway to victory for the British and allied forces.
 
The nonagenarians were just 20 and 24-years-old on June 6, 1944, but ahead of this week's 70th anniversary, recall the allied invasion of occupied northern France in vivid detail.

The brave twosome survived the famous landings despite describing themselves as ‘expendable’ troops who ‘were there to take the fire while the landing craft headed for the beaches’.

Almost 70 years ago on D-Day, gun-toting Ernie fired upon his Nazi targets while Johnny relayed shells from the ammunitions locker to his younger brother.
 
Despite being inches from death over a three month campaign, the brave brothers admit they 'didn't really know what fear was' because of their young ages.

They were part of Operation Neptune while serving aboard HMS Frobisher, a member of the Gunfire Bombardment Support Force D deployed to Sword Beach
 
But despite heavy shelling from the Nazis in their stronghold fortresses lining the beaches Ernie did not fear death.
 
He said: 'I went out with the feeling that it wasn't going to happen to me - and it didn't. We were just lucky.
 

'I was quite comfortable really, I felt sorry for the troops heading for the beaches because they probably only had corned beef and biscuits to eat.'

Plans for the original invasion on June 5 were scuppered by bad weather keeping allied air, sea and land troops at bay.
 
But by dawn the next day after the RAF had bombed from the air and the young brothers sailed into history.
 
Young Ernie directed anti-aircraft guns on board the warship while Johnny supplied shells from the bowels of the vessel.
 
A total of five rounds per minute were fired from HMS Frobisher, which had five 7in guns and five 4in guns, for two hours.

It took a nail-biting five minutes to turn the ship around once the sailors realised they were sitting targets.
 
The vessel was fired upon by around 60 shells but none scored a direct hit.
 
Two crew members standing together watching the action, because their duties were not required at the time, lost arms during the onslaught after being hit by shrapnel.
 
For the caring brothers in arms, they were plagued with worry for each other as the fighting intensified.

'I got messages fairly quickly about how Ernie was. Sometimes you didn't have time to think.

'I got some respite after 7:25am on D-Day because that's when we stopped shelling to allow the ground troops to make their way onto the beach.'
 
After three days of fighting, the brothers sailed back to Portsmouth.
 

But they were there for just one day before heading back to provide support to the hospital ships off the coast of Normandy.

The brothers deployment lasted for three months, from June to August, and towards the end they were torpedoed in Seine Bay and a bomb killed nine men.

After the war was over in 1945, widower Ernie, whose wife Violet died a few years ago, returned to his profession as a carpenter and started a family.
 
He has three children, Karen, 60, Dennis, 59, and John, 62, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
 
His brother Johnny, who has two sons, Colin, 56, and Martin, 52, was diagnosed with TB and spent years after the war in hospital.

At a special ceremony on June 4, Ernie and Johnny will be presented with special commemorative medals at a ceremony for veterans at Caen in Normandy.
 
The brothers and their children will be with them on a poignant day at the Abbaye aux Dames.
 
Ernie said: 'We are aware of our ages and it's probably the last chance we will have to go back.'
 
The landings on June 6, 1944 involved a combination of British, Canadian, American and French forces, including hundreds of units from the Royal Navy.
 
Around 132,000 Royal Marines and allied soldiers were transported by ships and injected onto the beaches of Normandy by landing craft and sea boat.

More than 23,000 arriving by air, according to the Ministry of Defence, and the RAF and allied air forces provided air support with 11,000 aircraft.
 
D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion ever launched and opened the gateway to victory for the British and allied forces to bring World War II to an end.
 
Around 10,000 troops and civilians were killed but the actual figure has never been discovered.
 
To mark the 70th anniversary an international flotilla of ships will sail through the channel to Normandy before an international ceremony on Sword Beach.