Port Fairy's Sue Balmer insists she was "a very small cog" in the machine that led to one of the Second World War's most defining operations.
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A teenager who held down a clerical job at the British Ministry of War Transport offices in London's Berkeley Square, little did she realise that her "paper shuffling" would ultimately help pull off the successful D-Day landings of the Battle of Normandy, paving the way for Allied victory.
Her wartime experience might have been poles apart from that of Warrnambool's former RAF pilot Bill Sinclair and Scottish artilleryman Duncan Smart, but their shared involvement in the Allied offensive will bond them forever.
As the world pauses on June 6 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Allies' D-Day landings on the beaches of the Nazi-occupied French Normandy coast, Mr Sinclair, 99, Mr Smart, 96 and Mrs Balmer, 94 will be acknowledged for their service in the historic events.
The trio will be guests of honour at a commemorative afternoon tea hosted by the Warrnambool RSL sub-branch on Thursday at 2.30pm.
In what is thought to be a D-Day commemorative first for the branch, secretary Bernie Farley will pay homage to the three.
Mrs Balmer, who said her long-term memory of life in wartime London was "excellent", said she was looking forward to Thursday's reunion.
"It doesn't feel like 75 years," she said, recalling the days of petrol-rationing, blackouts and nightly bombings.
She also recalls the documents which passed through her office stamped "Operation Overlord", the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the largest seaborne invasion in history launched by the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944.
READ more: My D-Day story: South-west veteran remembers
The landings began the successful reclamation of German -occupied western Europe. More than 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel that day following a 1200-plane airborne assault and an amphibious assault of more than 5000 ships.
Among the troops was 18-year-old Duncan Smart, fighting with the Scottish Gordon Highlanders regiment.
Mr Smart was wounded twice, first on D-Day and then several days later.
While the Lyndoch resident admits his recollection of the events has faded, he remembers enough to know it was "a frightening experience."
Part of the RAF 179 Squadron with coastal command, Mr Sinclair's role as a pilot was to help keep the skies and waters of the English Channel clear, patrolling for the threat of enemy submarines and aircraft at the time of the D-Day landings.
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