D-Day hero and Indefatigable fundraiser Harry Billinge (Image: PA)
The names of 98 lost servicemen who fell on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy that followed have been added to a war dead roll of honour.
Some 22,540 heroes are now immortalised on the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer.
The names have been engraved on the west wall and will be formally unveiled in a service of dedication on Friday, the eve of the 82nd anniversary of the Normandy Landings.
Record keeping during the Second World War was incomplete and contradictory. Some names were incorrectly recorded on military casualty lists – in some cases because individuals were wounded in Normandy and brought back to Britain for treatment. In others, names were not included on the lists passed to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission by the military authorities.
Forensic research by the Normandy Memorial Trust means lost warriors from the Normandy campaign now join their fellow fallen comrades who are immortalised forever.
General The Lord Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff, Chairman of the Normandy Memorial Trust, and Patron of Spirit of Normandy Trust, said: “These ‘lost’ names from the Normandy campaign now take their rightful place on the British memorial in Normandy alongside those of their comrades.
“As we approach this 82nd anniversary of D-Day we honour them all for their sacrifice and remind ourselves of the pressing need to ensure the United Kingdom is adequately defended.”
King Charles at a service at the British Normandy Memorial for the 80th anniversary of D-Day in 2024 (Image: Getty Images)
The British Normandy Memorial stands on a hillside in Ver-sur-Mer above Gold Beach in Normandy.
On its limestone columns are names of 22,540 servicemen and women from 38 nationalities who lost their lives on D-Day and the three-month Battle of Normandy that followed.
The site was selected by Normandy veterans during a consultation process in April 2017 and formally opened on June 6, 2021 by the then Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, as Royal Patron of the Normandy Memorial Trust.
One of the driving forces behind the project was indefatigable D-Day veteran Harry Billinge who died on April 5, 2022 aged 96.
Harry was an 18-year-old sapper with the Royal Engineers when he waded ashore at 6.30am on June 6, 1944, as part of the first wave of troops to storm German-occupied France. He was one of only four to survive from his unit.
Harry collected for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal for decades but his fundraising stepped up a gear when he heard about the creation of a monument for the fallen veterans he served alongside.
Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday whatever the weather, he rattled a collection tin in Par Market in his hometown of St Austell – and vowed to continue doing so until he was no longer able.
Speaking to the Express previously he said: “What I saw I can never forget.”
“I never want to call it a day – all the fellows I knew never put their feet up, so why should I? So many marvellous people all died.
“I’ve never been able to forget D-Day. It was a really sad day – it has been all my life.
“I am very lucky. If I can’t do what I have done I am not worth anything. These chaps made the supreme sacrifice. My generation saved the world.
“It is my duty to do all I can for the blokes who never came back. That’s what I will continue to do and when I can’t, I will rest in peace knowing I have done my best. I’ll pack up when I’m dead.”