The recent D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations remind us, through our ongoing Hockey’s Military Stories research project, that many hockey people of that generation, both men and women, played valiant and vital parts in that fascinating period of modern history including very significant roles in what ultimately proved to be the liberation of Europe from Nazi oppression. Having uncovered many stories from that period, we have chosen two to share in commemoration of D-Day: one that helps to represent the preparation for D-Day and the other the execution of what remains to this day the largest amphibious invasion in history.

A restored photograph: the scene from Omaha beach, one of the US landing sites, Normandy in the days following D-Day, June 1944. It demonstrates the industrial might that the Allies brought to bear on the invasion effort. Public domain.

The Preparation: Sir John Masterman and MI5’s Twenty Committee

Sir John Masterman and MI5’s Twenty Committee | The Hockey Museum

Sir John Cecil Masterman

The Execution: FIH Umpire Nevill Miroy, the Landing Craft Skipper

FIH Umpire Nevill Miroy, the D-Day Landing Craft Skipper | The Hockey Museum

Umpire Nevill Miroy (left) during the Pre-Olympic Hockey Tournament in London in 1967.