Just a wee bit of trivia, but in the movie The Longest Day, when Lovat's commandos relieve John Howard's men at Pegasus Bridge, Richard Todd, who played Major Howard in the movie, was a real veteran of the action portrayed in the movie.

http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/john_howard.htm

http://www.britisharmedforces.org/pa...chard_todd.htm

Besides playing Major Howard, Todd also played Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC in The Dam Busters and the Rev. Peter Marshall, "father" of the Kirkin of the Tartan service and Coatbridge, Scotland native in A Man Called Peter. He also played Corporal "Lachy" Lachlan in The Hasty Heart.

Up the Ox & Bucks!

Todd