SO secret were the duplex drive tanks that "floated" ashore during the D-Day landings that the deaths of six servicemen during a practice at Studland remained secret for decades.

It was only two days ago that Richard Gould learned the full truth about how his younger brother Charles "Bob" Gould had died.

On April 4 he laid flowers at the memorial to remember those who died during a top secret D-Day exercise 61 years ago.

Old comrades of the six who perished, who themselves only a few months later stormed Gold Beach during the Normandy landings, also paid their respects to those lost off Studland beach on April 4, 1944.

Lt Bob Gould was only 20 when he and other members of the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards took part in Operation Smash 1 - to test the floating DD tanks that would be launched from landing craft off the French coast to surprise the German occupiers.

But the exercise near Fort Henry turned into a disaster when rough seas suddenly blew up and caused six of the DD tanks to flounder and then sink beneath the waves.

The only survivor from Bob's tank was Robert Ford, who later became a general.

It was General Ford who finally told the whole story of the tragedy to Bob's brother Richard "Dick" Gould over lunch last Sunday.

Attending the 61st anniversary ceremony with his wife Erica, Dick said: "I had not known the whole story about what happened until yesterday. It was kept so quiet, I had heard only vaguely what had happened."

Dick's younger brother's body was washed ashore six months after the accident at Studland and was buried at Highcliffe. His body was the only one of the six casualties recovered from the sea.

Dick, of Lymington, said: "It is a tremendous relief to now know exactly what happened. All we were told at the time was that these men had gone missing in action."

Also at the ceremony were members of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, the Durham Light Infantry, Royal Navy veterans and the South Wales Normandy Vets.

All were involved in the storming of Gold beach and liberation of the nearby town of Creully.

The veterans formed their own group, called the Creully Club, in 1992.

Stan Cox, 80, who travelled from Oxford to attend, said: "It's important because these lads are so easily forgotten."

Veteran Stan Brine, Creully Club spokesman, hopes a third reunion will take place at Fort Henry next April.

First published: April 5