I doubt you can watch this clip without firstly smiling and then finding a tear in your eye: BBC One - Breakfast, WWII veteran Harry Billinge sees for the first time, the D-Day memorial he's helped fund
An inspiration. The Normandy Memorial Trust - Points of Light https://www.normandymemorialtrust.org/d-day-75-story/d-day-75-stories-harry-billinge/
D-Day veteran Harry Billinge appointed MBE The 94-year-old has been appointed MBE for services to charitable fundraising A D-Day veteran who raised more than £25,000 towards the cost of building a national memorial honouring his fallen comrades has become an MBE. Harry Billinge, 94, said he was accepting the honour in memory of the "fellas that never came back". He was presented with the honour by the Queen during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Mr Billinge from St Austell, Cornwall was 18 when he landed on Gold Beach on June 6, 1944. "It was hell on earth. Murder. The sea was red with blood, human blood," he said. Mr Billinge, who has dedicated much of his life to fundraising, said the memory of the servicemen killed during D-Day had "never left him". "I never expected any medal for collecting a few pounds, or a thousand pounds for the boys that never came back," he told BBC Breakfast. "All I set out to do, I achieved and I'm still doing it." The D-Day veteran said he was "very thankful" for the honour Speaking after the ceremony, Mr Billinge said it was "wonderful" to meet the Queen. "She was very, very kind. There are no words to describe it." The veteran, who also holds France's highest award, the Legion d'Honneur, is well-known for his charity work in Cornwall, where he has collected for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal for more than 60 years. Mr Billinge has actively supported the Normandy Memorial Trust, visiting the site of the memorial above Gold Beach where he landed in 1944 In June 2019 he travelled to Normandy to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. He went to see the unveiling of the first foundation stones of a memorial to remember those who served in the British forces during the war.
Anybody know what unit he was with? I have read that he says he was a Royal Engineer in the Commandos and landed on Gold Beach at 6.30 am with the 2nd Bn South Wales Borderers. I would like to understand what is right/wrong here... Something is wrong!
Harry was RE and landed in the first wave alongside others: that could be the cause of any confusion and/or conflation. As he told me a few months ago 'it was my job to blow stuff up. If someone said "go blow it up" I'd go blow it up'. His first big target was, apparently, the Radar Station above Gold Beach.
But he also states that he landed with the 2nd Bn South Wales Borderers and they were not first wave, hence my question.
I think he was in the 81st RE squadron alongside with the 50th ID He told me that he was on the first wave but he wasn't with the 2nd SWB for sure.
Good News, we have received an email from Normandy Memorial Trust informing us that construction work resumes on the Ver-Sur-Mer site following easing of restrictions in France after 2 month shutdown caused by the coronavirus. dizzy and she
