Representing a Common Heritage
Representing a Common Heritage
Stan was ground crew at RAF Tangmere from 1941 to 1943, when he volunteered into 3209 servicing commandos. Shortly afterwards he was shipped out with his unit on two US landing craft, the one carrying all their gear was bombed and sunk, while the other dropped Stan and his mates onto Gold beach on 7th June (they could not get in on 6th due to the volume of traffic)
The unit was then sent to Bény-sur-Mer to take the airfield from the Germans and set it up for the first waves of Spitfires arriving in Normandy. By 1st August, the regular servicing crews had arrived, and Stan was sent back to the UK before being shipped out to India, Thailand and then on to Burma. He was eventually demobbed in 1946.
Just before the 75th anniversary of D-Day he received the Legion d’honneur and was one of the veterans on the SS Boudicca that visited Normandy. Incidentally there is a great picture of him on the front cover of the Royal British Legion mag of September 2019 standing alone on Dunkirk beach, he was the only member of the Servicing Commando group on the cruise
Of Stan’s photos that he had retained from the war several are of the temple complex in Bangkok and the other Indian pictures were taken in Karachi where they spent some time. Stan is the one in the photos wearing glasses and meeting up with his brother in Karachi.
Several photos show his group obviously having a tough time lazing around in the sun in India and one on an outrigger canoe. The other photos were taken at Westhampnett, before Stan left for 3209.
The following is a series of articles that feature Stan and have recently been published in the press.
Normandy veterans Richard Samson and Stanley Elliss presented with Légion d’honneur 18th September 2017 (Kent Online)
Stanley Elliss presented with the Légion d’honneur for his action in the D-Day landings of 1944
He was a Servicing Commando for the air force and landed with his comrades on the first day of invasion, June 6. He was in Normandy until that August.
Mr Elliss prepared and maintained forward airstrips for use by Allied aircraft and was highly skilled in aeroplane maintenance. The presentations were made by James Ryeland, managing director of the Dover Cargo Terminal operators George Hammond PLC. Mr Ryeland read out a tribute speech by Jean-Marc Todeschini, France’s Minister of State for Veterans and Remembrance.
The Légion d’honneur was established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte and is for both military and civilian merit. In 2014, on the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the then French President François Hollande announced that the award would go to all British veterans who fought for the liberation of France in 1944-45.
D-Day: How the Allies plotted ingenious invasion that would turn the tide of war. (Rachael Bletchly The Mirror 3 Jun 2019)
Stanley Elliss, 97, from Ashford, stands on the beach at Dunkirk, France, on the second day of a trip arranged by the Royal British Legion for D-Day veterans to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
He was trying to visualise the scene 79 years ago when a third of a million demoralised Allied troops forced back to the beaches by the Germans, wited to be evacuated by a hastily assembled fleet of vessels including hundreds of privately owned boats.
Stanley was thinking of his older brother Len, then 23-year-old Territorial Army soldier, who got safely to a boat, only to be thrown in the water when it was torpedoed.
“Len was floating on a piece of wood when another boat came past,” says Stanley
“He heard someone say, ‘Leave him, he’s dead’, but Len shouted out ‘I’m alive – come and help me!’. Thankfully they did and he got home safely.”
“But it must have been terrible,” he adds quietly. “Our backs were really against the wall then.”
And four years later Sgt Stanley Elliss was one of those who landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.
The RAF Commando had the task of preparing airstrips for Allied aircraft to land – and was almost torpedoed himself when the ship on front, carrying all his equipment, was sunk.
Stanley, who was awarded the Legion d’honneur by France, is one of the 255 D-Day veterans aged 91 to 101 on a Royal British Legion cruise to Normandy marking the 75th anniversary.
A WAR veteran marked his 100th birthday in style - being serenaded by a community choir. (Braintree & Witham Times, 4 November 2021)
Stanley Elliss, who was a D-Day war veteran, celebrated his centenary surrounded by the Halstead Community Choir
When visiting his daughter Sue Stevens, who is a member of the choir, they all joined in singing to the war veteran to celebrate the landmark occasion.
Born in 1921, Stanley was one of eight children. Following his education and a tedious first job, he volunteered for military service in 1939.
He was posted to the 602 Spitfire Squadron and by 1942 he was promoted to corporal.
Stan was a part of the D-Day landings, storming the shore on Gold Beach near Arromanches, France, on June 7, 1944.
He and his fellow veterans were part of the RAF 3209 Servicing Commando Unit.
They were sent to capture enemy airfields and service and re-arm front line Spitfire Fighters supporting the invasion. After the ground crews arrived, Stan and his colleagues were sent off to fight the Japanese in Burma.
In 1946, he was released from service and made his way back to England where he was demobbed from the RAF.
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