https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/father-organised-d-day-nation-rallied-support-largest-assault/
In the early hours of June 6 1944, Allied forces launched the largest combined naval, air and land assault ever assembled. Nearly 7,000 vessels including battleships, destroyers, minesweepers and assault craft poured across the English Channel to land more than 132,000 ground troops across five Normandy beaches.
In all, 18,000 paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines, while 11,590 Allied aircraft flew in support. “D-Day” simply denoted the date the invasion would commence. The stakes were surmised by how that name would go down in history.
The success of the invasion depended on the courage of those who were required to sacrifice everything for the liberation of Europe. But those brave souls were the tip of a vast planning operation which had been years in the making and strained every sinew of the British war effort.
Responsibility for ensuring the smooth passage of hundreds of tonnes of vehicles and ammunition lay with one man: Major General Sir Leslie ‘Bill’ Williams.
As head of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), he was in charge of operations on D-Day and implementing a plan to shift 380,000 tonnes of ammunition and 190,000 vehicles in the two months following.
In advance of the invasion, he rallied those on the home front in Britain to pack 350m items which would follow the troops over to France. Children, members of the Women’s Institute and those deemed unfit for military service were all recruited for the cause. While diminished by serving troops at the time who nicknamed them ‘blanket stackers’, their efforts were later commended by King George VI, who described it as “a remarkable story”.