D-Day hero George Chandler dies at 99
manchestereveningnews.co.ukA D-Day veteran who served as a torpedo boat gunner escorting American forces has died at the age of 99. George Chandler, who lost his sight in later life, was to have led the Blind Veterans UK contingent at the Cenotaph in London on Remembrance Sunday, alongside his granddaughters Lucy Tucknott, 31, and Faye West, 28.
The charity has invited them to march with them in their grandfather’s memory. At the age of 19 he served with the 59th flotilla on June 6, 1944, to escort the US army assault on Omaha and Utah beaches.
Ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Mr Chandler told the PA news agency: “Let me assure you, what you read in those silly books that have been written about D-Day are absolute crap, it’s a load of old rubbish. “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, he added: “At 4 o’clock in the morning, as the sun came up, as far as you could see were boats and ships.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk
