D-Day commando amongst first to land at Normandy dies aged 100

A D-Day hero, who was the final surviving member of his elite commando unit, has died aged 100. 

Second World War veteran Leon Gautier was a part of French unit that joined US and different Allied forces within the 1944 D-Day invasion to wrest Normandy from Nazi management. His dying was introduced by Romain Bail, the mayor of Ouistreham, an English Channel coastal neighborhood the place the Allies landed on June 6 1944, and the place Mr Gautier lived out his final years.

No additional particulars had been launched.  A particular tribute ceremony is anticipated to happen at a later date.

Mr Gautier was a nationally identified determine in France and met President Emmanuel Macron as a part of commemorations for the 79th anniversary of D-Day final month.  He and his comrades in Kieffer Commando Unit had been among the many first waves of Allied troops to storm the heavily-defended seashores of Nazi-occupied northern France, starting the liberation of Western Europe.

The commandos spent 78 days straight on the entrance traces, in ever-dwindling numbers.  Of the 177 who waded ashore on the morning of June 6 1944, simply two dozen escaped dying or harm, Mr Gautier amongst them.

He later injured his left ankle leaping off a practice and was compelled to sit down out a lot of the remainder of the warfare. His ankle remained painfully swollen for the remainder of his lengthy life.  In the massive D-Day invasion drive made up largely of American, British and Canadian troopers, French Captain Philippe Kieffer’s commandos ensured that France had feats to be happy with too, after the dishonour of its Nazi occupation, when some selected to collaborate with Adolf Hitler’s forces.