'Dad said he was a cook...he's really a Navy hero of D-Day'

WILLIAM Humphries spent decades shielding his family from the unspeakable horrors of D-Day.

- Giles Sheldrick

BILL SHIELDED FAMILY FROM HORRORS

As a teenage seaman he ferried hundreds of US soldiers on landing craft from the Allied invasion fleet onto Normandy's Omaha Beach and watched many of them die.

The bloodbath haunted Bill for years and he would tell his three children that he had been just a humble cook during the Second World War mission, who never saw action or even went on deck.

But the reality was heartbreakingly different - and, despite living with Alzheimer's and a diagnosis of cancer, he can still vividly recall the slaughter as wave after wave of young men were mown down by German fire from limestone cliffs above the sands of what became notorious as "Bloody Omaha".

The coxswain on his assault craft was shot dead as they neared the shore, leaving just Bill, 19, and a comrade to continue the mission.

In the run-up to the 80th anniversary of the landings on June 6, Bill, now 99, said: "It was just awful watching them being killed. I got to the beach and they were gunning these young men down. Worst of all, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.