Veterans carry coffin of Royal Marine Commando D-Day hero

Dozens of mourners turned out to mark the remarkable life of a D-Day veteran who stormed Juno Beach inside the only British tank to make it ashore in the offensive.

Patrick Churchill, 94, was a Royal Marine Commando who landed in the first wave of the assault on the beach on June 6, 1944.

Aged just 20 when he arrived at Juno beach, Mr Churchill was a radio operator with 4 Commando, part of the crack British force designated to secure strategic bridges and roads during the early hours of the Allied advance.

It is estimated he lost half of his unit in the landings, which saw the bulk of the British invasion force roll ashore as part of the daring offensive which ultimately won World War Two. 

Patrick Churchill (pictured left in 1944 and right in 2014) was a Royal Marines Commando with 4 Commando during the Normandy landings

A bugler from the Royal Marines blows the last post as mourners bow their heads in remembrance outside the church

A bugler from the Royal Marines blows the last post as mourners bow their heads in remembrance outside the church

His son Frank Churchill (right) follows the coffin of his father  who died aged 94 earlier this year into the church in Witney, Oxfordshire

His son Frank Churchill (right) follows the coffin of his father who died aged 94 earlier this year into the church in Witney, Oxfordshire

After the war, Mr Churchill returned to his native Oxford to work for the car maker Morris as a welder. During the battle for Normandy, he was knocked out by an explosion which temporarily wiped his memory of the landings. 

The French President Jacques Chirac awarded Patrick the Legion d’Honneur in 2004 on a return visit to Normandy to commemorate the landings. 

He also won a medal for holding his post for 24 hours during repeated SS assaults in the later battle for Belgium and Holland.  

The former commando said memories of the destruction that greeted him on that June day will be foremost in his mind. Mr Churchill told the Independent in 2004: ‘You had to carry on to your objective. You were thinking of the people you had left behind. I saw these destroyed houses, devastated by the fighting.

‘Yet these were the homes of people who after the assault welcomed the troops with open arms. I thought of my own home and how it must feel to see all your memories, all the things you have gathered turned into a ruin.’

‘On D-Day I saw lots of German bodies. You just didn’t see them as some terrible enemy. You just thought, poor devil. You just thought about them, their parents.

‘I went to Normandy on the way back from the war. You could still see the wreckage of the boats that never made it to the shore. I will never forget the sense of the futility of what happened.’

Photos from his funeral show dozens of his former comrades turning out to pay their respects carrying flags and blowing bugles.

The service saw his coffin carried from St Mary The Virgin Church, to the War Memorial on Church Green in Witney, Oxfordshire, as part of the ceremony on Wednesday.

Members of the Royal Marines Association stand by bearing colours as a bagpiper heralds the arrival of the coffin on Wednesday

Members of the Royal Marines Association stand by bearing colours as a bagpiper heralds the arrival of the coffin on Wednesday

A procession led by some of his former comrades walks along the road in Witney, Oxfordshire with several others following behind the hearse

A procession led by some of his former comrades walks along the road in Witney, Oxfordshire with several others following behind the hearse

Frank Churchill (right) and Able Seaman John Dennett (left) who was on a landing craft dropping off American troops on Omaha Beach on D-Day

Frank Churchill (right) and Able Seaman John Dennett (left) who was on a landing craft dropping off American troops on Omaha Beach on D-Day

The coffin of World War Two veteran Patrick Churchill is carried into St Mary The Virgin Church in Witney on Wednesday

The coffin of World War Two veteran Patrick Churchill is carried into St Mary The Virgin Church in Witney on Wednesday

The Reverend Simon Kirby conducts a service besides the coffin as dozens of mourners listen in on the service

The Reverend Simon Kirby conducts a service besides the coffin as dozens of mourners listen in on the service

The service saw his coffin carried from St Mary The Virgin Church, to the War Memorial on Church Green in Witney, Oxfordshire, as part of the ceremony on Wednesday

The service saw his coffin carried from St Mary The Virgin Church, to the War Memorial on Church Green in Witney, Oxfordshire, as part of the ceremony on Wednesday



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