Tunnel man returns

A FORMER Royal Engineers officer who oversaw the

digging of secret wartime communications tunnels toured them for the first time in 60 years this week.

Lt Col Dennis Day (retired), from Surrey, was a 24-year-old officer in 1941 when he was in charge of 120 men excavating the labyrinth of tunnels in the South Heighton hillside at Newhaven.

The warren served as the Second World War Royal Navy communications centre, HMS Forward, which played a significant role in the Dieppe raids and Normandy landings. Lt Col Day, 84, returned on Tuesday as guest of honour of the Friends of HMS Forward to revisit the tunnels he helped build. He had visited Newhaven on several occasions over the years but the area had been transformed with new roads and buildings and he had never been able to trace them.

Finally his daughter tracked down Friends secretary Geoff Ellis and a trip was arranged.

Mr Ellis said: 'He found it a very moving experience, he said it felt like it was only yesterday he was there. He recognised so many features he was personally involved in and was surprised to see their condition had not deteriorated to any great extent.'

It is hoped work on the tunnels will be completed within two years so they can be opened as a tourist attraction.

Mr Ellis said Lt Col Day was overjoyed his first military project was to be preserved for posterity and brought with him copies of reports he made during the construction of the tunnels.

Readers can logon to the Friends of HMS Forward Internet website at www.secret-tunnels.co.uk