Colin's cold war

He could cope with the tough physical regime and even the mental torture. But the cold sent shivers down his spine as he joined a bunch of raw recruits in BBC1's new series Destination D-Day.

Chris temporarily deserted his geography studies at university in his home town to join 23 other young men, aged between 18 and 25, from around the country to train for the Normandy landings.

The plan was to put them through their military paces, watched by three Second World War veterans, in a four-week programme designed to be like the gruelling training that young men their age went through in the run-up to D-Day 60 years ago.

Coming from the North-East, with its reputation as being part of the "frozen North", you'd think 19-year-old Smith would be used to the cold.

"That's what everybody says, but there's no difference. You'd think we lived in the Antarctic the way they say that, but the first time out on exercise on Dartmoor it was minus 22 and we were just in sleeping bags," he says.

"It was cold and there was a lot of waiting around. It was just the fact that the days were 20 hours long and we had practically no sleep - and it was so cold. I was never ever warm."

At one point, he almost quit - and he wasn't the first as several left within days of beginning training. "Two occasions I got up and changed, and said that I was going home," he confesses. "I was taken to the train station and was on the point of leaving, but at the last minute decided to stay."

He'd had some experience of military life in the army cadets. "But it's nothing compared to the real thing," says Smith, whose soldier brother Lee has just returned from serving with the British forces in Iraq.

This observational series - as the BBC calls it rather than reality TV - blends footage of the recruits undergoing training with the memories of the D-Day veterans.

It decided Smith against a career in the Army, which he had been considering, although he doesn't regret the experience. He'd originally applied to take part in another BBC series, SAS: Are You Tough Enough?. "I was too young but they must have kept my name on file. When this new programme came up, they asked me to do it. I was very keen," he says.

Following a selection weekend at Aldershot army camp, he was marched off immediately for intensive training with the other recruits. "The weekend was more about the physical side with swimming, running and that sort of thing. It was more to do with endurance than strength, and was a lot easier than the actual training," he recalls.

Recruits spent four weeks undertaking a variety of training programmes at military establishments all over the country. Most of the time they were in the dark about what was going to happen next. "They didn't tell you anything. It was really hush-hush. You had to try to squeeze out of them what you were doing the next day," he says.

Only 18, including Smith, completed the course. He entered for a challenge, and that's what he got. "Some of my mates say, 'how much did you get paid?' or 'why did you do it?'. But it's one of the experiences of a lifetime. I have no regrets," says Smith.

He was well aware there was one big difference between being a recruit in 1944 and 2004. "You knew in your head that you weren't going to war at the end of it, but you still got trained up to fight," he says. "It was the same physically, but mentally, you knew you could go home any time you wanted. Recruits in those days didn't have that choice."

Smith spent his 19th birthday on Monday away on a field study trip in Scarborough. He wasn't worried about being away from home this time - "even if it was just a hostel it would be luxury compared to training camp".

Making Destination D-Day, he enjoyed the company of the veterans, Jimmy Green, Reg Rymer and Frank Rosier. "They told us some great stories," he says.

"They were really canny and good to us. They used to bring us chocolate bars when we had to eat rations like horrible baby food. We watched old training films with the veterans and they started to get quite emotional."

Rosier, who was 18 on D-Day and lost an eye in the campaign, is equally proud of Smith and the other lads. "I admire those boys because what they did in four weeks took us four months. They were doing things off the hoof and weren't getting any rest," he says.

"Our role was encouragement and trying to teach them a sense of purpose of what we were doing out there. I think we succeeded because right from the beginning we told them they would have to work together, help one another and get by as a team.

"The whole essence of what we taught them was fitness, confidence and teamwork."

He recalls his own first lesson in teamwork, coming off a landing craft and being told to wait for the rest of his section. "Are you going to win on your own?" his commander inquired.

"By the end of the month, I think we'd worked up quite a friendship with these boys," he says. "They asked, 'do you think we could do what you did?' and I replied, 'of course, you could - but I don't want you to have the chance'."

* Destination D-Day is on BBC1 at 8pm on Wednesdays.