Two entirely different accounts of the death of Flight Lieutenant Douglas Highfield have been committed to record. One, by former LAC Stan Mallet, states that he was hit by a sniper as the landing craft ramp went down: 'The leather flying jacketed figure by me vanished: hit by a German sniper.' The other, as recalled by Cubitt and Rycroft, states that he was killed on the beach by the explosion of a German shell.
Cubitt recorded that, at the time, Highfield was trying to protect a Squadron Leader who had had his foot blown off. The official record proves that this was Squadron Leader Victor Harrison. Rycroft recorded in his diary that he had been next to Highfield when he was killed and had had a miraculous escape. Rycroft later realised that the shell that killed Highfield had wounded him slightly in the back.
Given that two accounts describe Highfield being killed by an artillery shell on the beach, and that both contain details that appear impossible to contradict, there cannot be any serious doubt that they accurately record the circumstances in which he lost his life. How, then, could Mallet have produced such a very different version of events? There are several possibilities:
1) Mistaken identity. Mallet identified Highfield by the leather flying jacket he was wearing; possibly, someone else was wearing a flying jacket, or even Highfield's jacket. Rycroft describes being lent warm clothes by Highfield, so it is not impossible that he offered his jacket to another member of the 21 BDS contingent.
2) Highfield was slightly wounded as he came off the landing craft but not killed or incapacitated.
3) He stepped off the ramp into unexpectedly deep water, like so many others at Omaha.
4) He jumped into the water to escape incoming fire - again, like so many others.
There is no official record of the circumstances of Highfield's death.
No comments:
Post a Comment