- British Army veteran Bill Gladden wished to return to France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day to honor his fallen comrades.
- Gladden, part of a dwindling group of World War II veterans, has died at the age of 100.
- Despite battling cancer, Gladden remained committed to participating in this year’s D-Day commemorations in Normandy.
British Army veteran Bill Gladden, who survived a glider landing on D-Day and a bullet grazed his ankle a few days later, wanted to return to France for the 80th anniversary of the invasion so he could honor those who did not come home .
This was not to happen.
Gladden, one of a dwindling number of veterans who took part in the landings that began the campaign to liberate Western Europe from the Nazis. second World WarHe died on Wednesday, his family said. He was 100 years old.
D-Day: Everything You Need to Know About the Historic World War II Battle
Despite being weakened by cancer, Gladden was determined to return to Normandy to take part in this year’s D-Day commemorations. With fewer veterans attending each year, the ceremony may have been one of the last major events marking the attack that began on June 6, 1944.
World War II veteran Bill Gladden of Britain participates in a ceremony outside the Pegasus Bridge memorial in Benoville, Normandy, June 5, 2023. Gladden is one of a dwindling number of veterans who took part in the landings that began the campaign to liberate Western Europe. Died April 24, 2024, from Nazis during World War II, his family said. He was 100 years old. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
“If I could do that this year, I should be happy,” he told The Associated Press from his home in Haverhill, England, in January, as he celebrated his birthday with family and friends. “Okay, now I’m happy, but I should be happier.”
Born on January 13, 1924, Gladden was raised in the Woolwich area of southeast London. His mother worked at the nearby Royal Arsenal First world war And his father was a soldier.
He joined the army at the age of 18 and was eventually assigned to the 6th Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment as a motorcycle dispatch rider.
On D-Day, Gladden landed behind the front lines in a wooden glider loaded with six motorcycles and a 17,000-pound tank. His unit was part of an operation charged with securing bridges over the River Orne and the Caen Canal, so that they could be used by Allied forces moving inland from the beaches.
Based in a garden outside the village of Ranville, Gladden spent 12 days in the surrounding countryside investigating reports of enemy activity.
On June 16, he took two wounded soldiers to a barn that was being used as a temporary field hospital. Two days later, he found himself in the same hospital after his right ankle was broken by machine gun fire from a German tank.
Lying on the grass outside the hospital, he read the treatment label on his tunic:
“Amputation considered. Large gash in right ankle. Compound fracture of both tibia and fibula. All extension tendons destroyed. Evacuate.”
Gladden did not lose his leg, but he spent the next three years in the hospital as doctors performed multiple surgeries, including tendon transplants, skin and bone grafts.
After the war, he married Mary Warne, an Army driver, whom he met in 1943 and they spent 40 years working for Siemens and Pearl Insurance. He is survived by his daughter, Linda Durant, and her husband, Kenny.
Over the years, Gladden regularly joined other veterans on trips to the battlefields of Normandy and the Netherlands organized by the taxi charity for military veterans.
“He had a wonderfully gentle voice and loved nothing more than singing some of his favorite war songs,” said Dick Goodwin, the group’s honorary secretary. “Earlier this year, we celebrated his 100th birthday in Haverhill. It was a pleasure to celebrate and, testament to the man he was, the hall was packed with all those who knew and loved him.”
Although he was happier talking about his family than reminiscing about the war, Gladden recorded his wartime story in a scrapbook that included pictures of “tanks that were built to fly”, glider landings, and other memorabilia.
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There is also a piece of parachute silk left by one of the paratroopers who landed in Ranville’s garden. While he was recovering from his wounds in the hospital, Gladden painstakingly sewed his unit’s shoulder insignia into fabric.
After eight decades the edges are frayed and discolored, but “Royal Armored Corps” still stands out in an arc of red letters on a yellow background. Below is a silhouette of the flying horse Pegasus above the word “Airborne”.
Gladden’s caption in capital letters reads, “These are the peepholes we wore over our battledress blouses.”
The same insignia adorned the top of his birthday cake in January when family and other guests chanted “Happy Birthday to You”.
But still, Gladden was thinking about the trip back. to normandy To honor his comrades, especially the two soldiers he took to that barn 80 years ago. He didn’t make it.
“He wanted to go to pay tribute to her,” Alan, the husband of her niece Kay Thorpe, told The Associated Press. “I think she’s with him now. And he is personally paying tribute to him.
