June 6 marks the 81st anniversary of D-Day, considered the time when the tide of the war turned in the Allies’ favour.

My father, Harry Culley, helped to bring music to Allied troops and civilians as part of the Royal Canadian Air Force dance and concert bands. After his death, I discovered over 600 letters that he and his then fiancé Helen Reeder wrote to each other during that time. My book, “Love in the Air: Second World War Letters,” includes selections from those letters, historical background, scenes inspired by the letters, and photos.

When the band wasn’t travelling, they were stationed in Bournemouth, on the English Channel. During late May and early June 1944, Allied troops gathered along the south coast of England, surreptitiously, so as not to arouse any suspicion of what was being planned.

At that time Harry and his fellow bandmate Al Smith noticed that the Bournemouth beach was still cordoned off with barbed wire and that the middle section of the famous Bournemouth pier was missing. The citizens had........

© Peterborough Examiner