Frederick William [Fred] Perfect was born in England in 1901. In 1932 he became a journalist for the United Kingdom’s broadsheet newspaper the Daily Telegraph. In 1944 he became the paper’s special Naval War Correspondent. When the campaign launched on 6 June 1944, Perfect sailed with the allied troops on HMS Largs, one of four Combined Operations Headquarters ships, to Sword Beach, Normandy, France. These ships were responsible for maintaining communication between aircraft, ships and land-based craft during the amphibious operations. Perfect was thus at the centre of the action and his reports offer a fascinating insight into the D-Day campaign as it took effect.

Perfect accompanied British and American troops as they progressed across Europe between 1944 and 1945, and sent reports back to the newspaper’s headquarters from France, Belgium and Holland. He reported on various aspects of the campaign, including Allied progress (or lack of it), the sinking into position of the Mulberry Harbour blockships and the naval bombardment in support of the Allied troops. He also wrote about seeing allied casualties and German prisoners of war while on shore in Normandy, travelling on a ship carrying injured service personnel to the United Kingdom, and meeting French civilians, including a female sniper.

The Fred Perfect papers are held in the D-Day Archive. The archive holds approximately 20 articles written by Perfect; the documents are accessible to view on request in the Portsmouth History Centre.