D-Day vet: 'Chunnel would have really come in handy.'

Dover, United Kingdom--Last week, the 66th anniversary of the largest amphibious invasion in history was remembered. Had a certain underwater tunnel existed at the time, ships and other watercraft could have been left in port.

On May 6, 1994 the Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel, opened under the English Channel, finally connecting Great Britain to the European continent. The opening was one month short of fifty years after the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion of France by the Allied forces during World War II.

The concept for a tunnel beneath the English Channel has roots dating back to the time of Napolean Bonaparte, who, it is widely believed, was a staunch supporter of the idea.

"It's no secret that many lives would have been saved had the Chunnel been around in 1944," said WWII veteran Sargent Tom Peters of the 103rd Airborne Division. "The Chunnel would have made D-Day a pleasure. We literally could have walked to France."

Walking the nearly 32-mile tunnel would have taken a lot out of the Allied troops. It is more probable that the nearly 160,000 soldiers involved in the operation that day would have used trains and troop transport vehicles. Although, concerns over echoing machinery noise, possibly alerting the enemy, may have required the latter portion of the trip to be made on foot.

Some experts feel that the Germans would have been closely watching the Chunnel, had it existed, which would have made its use nearly impossible by the Allies. Others were not so sure. "The Germans would have had maybe one ore two soldiers watching the Channel Tunnel," said Dr Hal Fitzsimmons, an Oxford University military history professor. "Using the Chunnel would have been too obvious. The Germans would have amassed troops elsewhere."

There is little doubt, however, that the estimated 10,000 casualties over the course of the invasion would have been drastically reduced had the water landings been substituted by a Chunnel landing.

"Damn! It took us hours and hours to cross the choppy Channel that day 66 years ago," recalled Don Gilbert, 88, an American soldier who landed on Utah Beach in Normandy. "Traveling from London to Calais, France while on a trip last year took me 54 minutes on the Eurostar train and the only bombs that were dropping were coming from the guy eating the fish and chips in front of me."