Normandy veteran who lied about age to enlist dies at 101

Sincity Press Staff 1 day ago 2 min read 6
Sincity Press Brief

A veterans' charity says Donald Turrell will be remembered with "enormous affection and gratitude".

The charity's vice president, Dick Goodwin, said: "Don was incredibly special.

"He had a warmth and beingness that lit up each country helium entered, and helium touched the lives of truthful galore people.

"As a World War Two veteran, Don represented a procreation whose courageousness and work we volition ne'er forget.

"It was a privilege for the taxi foundation to cognize him, and helium volition beryllium remembered with tremendous affection and gratitude.

"My thoughts are with his household and each those who loved him astatine this precise bittersweet time."

In an interrogation past year, Turrell said: "I did prevarication astir my age. I pushed it up a bit, gave each the close answers, and I was in. I was happy."

He explained helium had ever wanted to beryllium a worker and that similar "all the young lads" helium had wanted to play his portion successful defending his country.

The seasoned described feeling "excited and apprehensive" during the crossing to the Normandy coast, and said his "introduction" to the warfare was seeing bodies from earlier warring washing backmost up connected the formation arsenic helium landed.

His warfare came to an extremity a fewer weeks aboriginal connected July 10, erstwhile helium was earnestly injured during warring adjacent the municipality of Eterville. He was aboriginal medically discharged.

Turrell spoke movingly of the adjacent friends helium mislaid during the campaign, immoderate of whom helium buried successful the field, and who are present buried successful Commonwealth warfare cemeteries connected the continent.

The warfare besides claimed his older member Leslie, who had been a telegraphist connected HMS Penelope and died erstwhile she was sunk disconnected the Italian seashore adjacent Naples successful February 1944.

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