The paper featured five pages on Tasmanians who were involved in the 1944 assault on the beaches of Normandy in an attempt to liberate France from Nazi occupation.

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The first veteran featured was 85-year-old Ron Alway.

Mr Alway was a seasoned Welsh soldier by the time D-Day came around. His D-Day landing at Mont Lambert was his third and he was the sole survivor of his entire company.

Mr Alway shared a written account of his experiences: "We reached the shallows, exploded our charges and (our) 150 machine-guns were spitting thousands of rounds of tracer within minutes. With the exploding tanks, the white smoke and steam mingling with the drifting black smoke screen and the grey tanks looming out of the half light, the enemy were confused, many of them panicked and bolted and (were) wiped out".

"We were suffering casualties, one of them my troopmate. Within one hour we were two miles inland.

"I was a survivor again. This was my third landing since 1939."

While Mr Alway kept an astute diary, it was after moving to Kings Meadows and reflecting on his time at war the ongoing significance of his dedication was revealed.

"When you go into action and you're facing machine-guns and you're peppered with small arms fire the noise is terrible. It sets up what we called a 'turret hailstorm' - as it hit the turret although you had headphones on, every bullet sounds like a sledge hammer on an empty drum. Flakes of metal and paint shower down and you're covered in it," he told reporter Fran Voss.

"On my hands after the war there were 64 scars from the cuts.

"I've had too much war. I hope it never happens again."

Far from the harrowing stories told by D-Day survivors, the back pages of the paper were typically filled with sports results from around the state and country.

The most interesting of which was a NTFA match between Penguin and East Devonport.

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East Devonport chalked up an impressive scoreline of 17.11 (113) ... yet still managed to lose to Penguin by 90 points.

Combined, East Devonport and Penguin posted 48.28 (316). Despite the comprehensive victory Penguin coach Leigh Courtney rued his side's turnovers.

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