"A D-Day veteran who served as a torpedo boat gunner escorting American forces has died at the age of 99. George Chandler, from Burgess Hill, West Sussex, who lost his sight in later life, was to have led the Blind Veterans UK contingent at the Cenotaph in London on Remembrance Sunday, alongside his granddaughters Lucy Tucknott, 31, and Faye West, 28. The charity has invited them to march with them in their grandfather’s memory. At the age of 19 he served with the 59th flotilla on June 6, 1944, to escort the US army assault on Omaha and Utah beaches. Ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Mr Chandler told the PA news agency: “Let me assure you, what you read in those silly books that have been written about D-Day are absolute crap, it’s a load of old rubbish. “I was there, how can I forget it? It’s a very sad memory because I watched young American Rangers, not shot, slaughtered... ... After the war George worked for the General Post Office and then BT, before retiring in the 1980s, giving him more time to enjoy his true passion of golf. He was an honorary life member at Haywards Heath Golf Club." ‘Larger-than-life’ D-Day veteran George Chandler dies aged 99
Served on MTB 710 of the 59th MTB Flotilla, which escorted Ranger Force C (HQ, A, and B Co, 2d Ranger Bn and 5th Ranger Bn) to its landing on OMAHA DOG WHITE/RED.
