AS a young Royal Navy signalman Peter Cooke had been honed to physical and military sharpness for two years before he became part of the historic D-day battle.

Sixty years ago this week he was in his uniform, with the cream of Britain's youth, ready to cross the Channel to liberate a huge chunk of Europe from oppression.

"I saw things that no young boy should have had to see. Dead bodies in the water covered in oil and blood was common place and it was our job to rescue them and pull them from the water," says Bacup-born Peter, who helped man one of the hundreds of landing crafts used in the invasion.

Peter, 80, who lives in Ramsey Avenue, was only 20-years-old when he witnessed the harrowing scenes that still remain lodged within his memory.

He added: "All I can say is that I am glad that I'll never have to go back and do the same thing again. It was a tough time but we just had to get one with it.

"Omaha and Utah beaches were getting somewhat of a hammering from the Germans. There were thousands of aircraft. There were so many that you couldn't see the sky.

"And they were all flying so low that you could actually see the pilots from our small boats - they were the brave ones. When they were shot down we were the ones that went to their rescue.

"From our boat we could see the RAF come over our heads and drop bombs inland. It was pretty scary but you had to push that to the side or else you'd be dead.

"Troops were landing all the time and had to make sure we met the ships with other small craft and take ashore men with supplies."

Despite the men coming from all walks of life they all shared a common aim; to put their lives on the line to save their King and countrymen from the scourge of the Nazi jackboot and the shadow of the German swastika.

He said when the German planes came over the sea the ships would send up smokescreens.

"One of our men went over the side of the ship. He was screaming but what made it worse was knowing that we couldn't do anything as we couldn't see because the smoke was so thick and black. That was horrible, something I will never be able to forget."

As a member of the Landing Craft Personnel Flotilla in April 1945 he sailed to Normandy in the battleship Rodney.

And Peter will forever have to live with not only the mental scares from his past but the physical scar of his hearing being shattered by shellfire. He depends on his hearing aid - although he regards himself one of the lucky ones.

"I lost six friends from Bacup who all died in tragic circumstances. Two other of my friends lost arms and legs but lived to tell the tale for a lot of years. Although they have now passed away they never let their disabilities get them down, something which a lot of people today can learn from."

Peter is returning to France for the D-Day commemorations, an emotional trip which will include a visit to Omaha, the beach which US President George Bush will also visit.

He is to travel back in time with fellow Rossendale Royal Navy man Jack Short.