Phoenix breakwaters Phoenix breakwaters The Phoenix breakwaters were a set of reinforced concrete caissons built as part of the artificial Mulberry harbours that were assembled as part of the follow-up to the Normandy landings during World War II. They were constructed by civil engineering contractors around the coast of Britain. They were collected at Dungeness and Selsey, and then towed by tugboats across the English Channel and sunk to form the Mulberry harbour breakwaters replacing the initial "Gooseberry" block ships. Further caisson were added in the autumn of 1944 to re-enforce the existing structure to cope with the harbour continuing in use
Dick Pirrie VFA. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. Temporary Sub-Lieutenant Richard Perrie was the first member of the Australian Navy to be killed in action during the landings at Normandy on D-Day (6 June 1944). He was mentioned in dispatches (MiD): Dick Pirrie Richard Michael Pirrie (6 June 1920 – 6 June 1944) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The son of Richard Francis Pirrie (1879-1962), and Isobel Agatha Pirrie (1897-1982), née McGuire, Richard Michael Pirrie was born in Hawthorn on 6 June 1920. He attended St