Weymouth: D-Day embarkation

When I visit Weymouth, as I seem to be doing now on a regular basis, it’s primarily for the wildlife, the birds, butterflies and dragonflies that are either resident or passing through on their Spring and Autumn migrations, and so almost every day I walk from my guest house on the front along to RSPB Lodmoor and back. Along the way I pass poignant reminders of the importance of this seaside town during the Second World War. 

One of those reminders is this sign, placed as you can see at the bottom of a flight of steps that leads from Greenhill Road down to Brunswick Lane at the edge of the beach. 

The text on the sign reads:

Rangers Way 2
At the start of June 1944, the 2nd Battalion US Rangers descended these steps en masse before lining up on the Promenade. They then marched to the Pavilion to board the boats for the crossing of the Channel to Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, France.
"We may never see their like again."

 And, one afternoon, when I was returning to my guest house from a walk around RSPB Radipole via a meandering exploration of the older parts of Weymouth, I found another similar reminder of this town’s strategic importance for the embarkation of soldiers heading to France 82 years ago. 

This harbourside plaque reads:

D-Day Embarkation June 1944

Weymouth was one of the main embarkation points for troops assembled in South Dorset in preparation for the invasion of France during World War II. The thousands of troops who embarked through Weymouth included the US 1st Infantry Division, who landed on Omaha Beach and the 2nd Ranger Battalion who successfully disabled the heavily fortified German artillery battery at Pointe du Hoc. In the days leading up to the 6th June landings this area in front of the old 1908 Pavilion was a bustle of activity with men and supplies being loaded onto landing craft. Over the following year more than half a million American servicemen and 150,000 vehicles would pass through Weymouth and Portland to the beaches of Normandy.

As the Rangers Way sign’s quotation of General Dwight Eisenhower’s famous statement says, ‘We may never see their like again.’

Weymouth: 'Tom' the torpedo

The coast path that runs along the edge of Portland Harbour by the marina is littered with a diverse range of objects and signs. This is one of those. 

As the writing on the sign may not be easily readable in my photo, I've transcribed it below:

"Tom" the torpedo

Robert Whitehead became interested in remotely controlling and detonating underwater explosive charges, and in 1868 had successfully demonstrated a practical torpedo design. The British Navy became interested and after purchasing some of the torpedos, encouraged Whitehead to set up a manufacturing facility in England.

Whitehead bought an eight acre site at Ferry Bridge, and built a factory which produced torpedos, using Portland Harbour for testing. Before the turn of the century he was manufacturing 14 and 18 inch diameter units with a range of 1000 yards and a speed of 20 knots.

The arrival of Whiteheads at Wyke Regis meant a considerable influx of skilled engineers and tradesmen, all of whom needed houses, schools and places to relax. Over the following years streets of red bricked terrace houses appeared alongside the cottages of old Wyke, as well as a new school and pubs and clubs.

After Whitehead's death, production carried on day and night to support World War I, but after the war demand fell and the factory shut down. In 1923 Vickers bought the site, and in response to threats from Germany a massive modernisation of the works was initiated, and by the start of the Second World War some 1500 men and women were employed.

When peace was declared in 1945, the yard again found itself in difficulties and although production reduced substantially, design and development work carried on including wire-guided and rocket propelled units. The last test firing of a Whitehead 21 inch torpedo produced at Ferry Bridge took place in Weymouth Bay in 1966.

The torpedo on display was donated to Portland Marina by the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport www.submarine-museum.co.uk and it is a Mk 8, which was the mainstay submarine torpedo of WW 2 being responsible for the destruction of over two million tons of enemy shipping. The propulsion unit is a radial four cylinder semi-diesel engine, developing 350 BHP, giving a range of 5000 yards at 45.5 knots.

Weymouth: Communication Board

I'm probably a bit behind the times here but I'd never seen one of these communication boards until this week as I was walking along the beach-side promenade in the seaside town of Weymouth on England's south coast, and I didn't initially understand what its purpose was.
 

Now that I've goggled and read some of the web pages I think it's a brilliant idea. In case you're also in the dark, as you can see from my image, a communication board is illustrated with symbols and images that are used to explain words. Those people who find verbal communication difficult, like children or adults with disorders that affect their ability to speak or those whose first language is not English, can point to symbols to ask questions or explain what they are looking at or tell a story. More formally, a communication board is a form of AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) for those among us who are non-verbal.
 

According to an article in the Dorset Echo, this communication board was installed in August 2025, and the BBC website reported, in March 2025, that boards have also been installed in several locations in Lyme Regis. I look forward to finding many more of these boards in other locations.