History of the British Army postal service bawling through a megaphone at each ship "Are you carrying mail?". This system remained in place until the Mulberry Harbours at Arromanches were established to allow mails to be docked more formally. The 6 Airborne Division Postal Unit RE (commanded by Captain JCG Hine RE and as a unit accompanied the Division on its airborne drops during the night of 5/6 June 1944), and the Beach Group APO S698 made the first despatch from Normandy on D+2 (8 June 1944). The main Base Army Post Office (No 8) arrived in theatre on D+10 (16 June 1944) and established itself in
Britannia Fields Engineers of the U.S.A. 82 Airborne Division who were housed and trained here from Feb to June 1944 prior to the D Day landings. They often trained and played baseball on the field. Some of the survivors’ visited the site in June 2004 for the 60th D Day Anniversary. A number of temporary wood huts were erected as barracks for the troops which after the war were used as temporary housing up to early 1950s when they were finally demolished. In 1951 these buildings were converted to a territorial barracks for D squadron Prince Albert’s own Leicestershire Yeomanry which used