Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy noticeTributes have been paid to a Geordie D-Day hero and "extraordinary character" after his death at the age of 96. Billy Ness was just 19 when he parachuted into France in the first minutes of June 6 1944 with the 12th Battalion as part of ‘Operation Tonga’. During what proved to be the most significant battle of the Second World War, Billy was shot and wounded twice yet still returned to active duty. In 2017 he was awarded the Chevalier Légion d’Honneur medal, one of France’s highest honours, for his heroism on and after the D-Day landings. Trevor Davison, secretary of the Tyneside Parachute Regimental Association, described Billy as “an extraordinary character”.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 15, 2021 16:07 UTC