HERO LOST
D-Day hero who stormed Juno Beach during Normandy landings before helping liberate concentration camp dies aged 104
The veteran described D-Day as a 'waste of life' but recognised the landings as being 'so important'
A D-DAY veteran who helped liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp has died aged 104.
Donald "Don" Sheppard, a dispatch rider for the Royal Engineers, landed on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, in a landing ship tank.
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Some 156,000 British, American and Canadian troops launched from the sea and air onto French soil in one of the most successful military operations in history, which this year celebrated its 80th anniversary.
But tributes poured in for Donald following the announcement of his death on Sunday.
On Sunday, the British Normandy Memorial account posted on X: “We are saddened to hear of the death of 104-year-old D-Day veteran Donald Sheppard.
“Donald attended the virtual opening of the Memorial in 2021 & features in the Winston Churchill Centre @PoppyLegion exhibition.
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“Thinking of Donald’s wife Sandra & family. Rest in Peace Don.”
Mr Sheppard, from Basildon, Essex, described D-Day as a “waste of life” but recognised the landings as being “so important”.
He said: “I know we had to defend ourselves… but young guys like me 20, 21, who never lasted five minutes, some of them got killed before they got off the boat.
“Tragic, absolutely.”
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When he arrived at Juno Beach around 4.30pm, Mr Sheppard said the Germans had “really got the distance and shells were coming over like rain”, with battleships also firing over their heads.
“We lost quite a few guys,” he said.
D-Day Veteran shares harrowing experience and stresses importance of educating youth
"We (the survivors) were lucky really.”
After breaking through Nazi lines in August, he continued through to Belgium, Holland and eventually Germany – including the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Speaking of his experience, Mr Sheppard said: “I shall never forget that for the rest of my life. How one human could do that to another.”
The only wound he received during the war was a cut to his leg as he took cover in a ditch as German bombs fell.
But after medical tests and scans some seven decades later, it was discovered he had a sliver of shrapnel sitting in his lung.
Mr Sheppard said the piece of metal had never caused any health problems.
On the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the army veteran recalled the traumatic events of that day.
It really was the longest day, like they say
Donald ‘Don’ Sheppard
He said: "I remember the noise as though it was yesterday. The noise is something I won’t forget.
"The roar of a battleship discharging its guns over our heads and the sound of rocket ships.
"The Germans sank the boat behind us.
"The run-in to the beach was hazardous, to say the least, because the Germans had their guns aimed at us.
"When we landed we were in about four feet of water and soaking wet.
"The first vehicle that landed disappeared in a shell hole. I was in the next one off.
"There were many dead guys who hadn’t made it.
"Right in front of me there must have been at least 20 or 30 dead there, probably engineers removing mines, and that was just a small section of a beach that went on for miles and miles.
";As I looked around me, I could just see bodies everywhere. It really was the longest day, like they say."
Once the Germans had been cleared away Mr Sheppard advanced to safety and was present in Hamburg in May 1945 when victory was declared.
He served his country from the beginning of World War Two, with postings in Sicily and North Africa, and was involved in the liberation of the concentration camps.
Before his death, the D-Day hero often spoke to local schoolchildren to explain what happened on that day.
“It’s important and I like doing it," he said.
"The children want to know about my medals, and they ask me questions about what happened.
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"The younger generations don’t really know what fighting a war like this means.
“We have to keep reminding everybody, so this doesn’t fade away.”
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