Lightship LV72 guided a safe passage through a minefield in the waves of the English Channel for the landing craft of the invasion force in June 1944.The proud vessel - codenamed Juno after the landing beach it protected - is now a rusting hulk on a Welsh river's mudbank.
The lightship was built for the Trinity House Lighthouse and Light Vessel Authority in 1903 using the same hull plate and rivet construction as the ill-fated Titanic.Juno saw service in a variety of different stations from 1903 until the Second World War where it played a major role in the Operation Overlord landings at Juno beach in Normandy.