D-Day hero, 99, dies days before role at Cenotaph

A D-DAY veteran has died at the age of 99 - days before he was due to play a leading role at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

- Ben Mitchell

George Chandler, who lost his sight in later life, was due to lead the Blind Veterans UK contingent in London alongside his granddaughters Lucy Tucknott, 31, and Faye West, 28.

The charity has invited them to march in their grandfather's memory.

Aged just 19, George was a torpedo boat gunner with the Navy's 59th Flotilla on June 6, 1944, escorting US soldiers to Omaha and Utah beaches.

Ahead of the landings' 80th anniversary, George, from Burgess Hill, West Sussex, had told a reporter: "Let me assure you, what you read in those silly books that have been written about D-Day are absolute c**p, it's a load of old rubbish."

He went on: "I was there - how can I forget it? It's a very sad memory because I watched young American Rangers, not shot...slaughtered."

Speaking to Blind Veterans UK, George recalled: "At 4 o'clock in the morning, as the sun came up, as far as you could see were boats and ships. Absolutely amazing.