Obituary: Geoffrey Noble, D-Day veteran

A native of Brighouse, he was a wireman on a Landing Craft Tank on Gold Beach in June 1944, and had a remarkable escape when it struck a mine and drifted at sea for several days. Eventually he was towed to safety by an American warship.

He had joined the military at 18 and in 1943 was called up to HMS Royal Arthur, doing his initial training at Butlin’s holiday camp in Skegness, which had been commandeered for the war effort.

He recalled D-Day as a traumatic experience. “Many soldiers drowned, others reached the beaches and were hit by some of the mines. That sticks in my memory,” he said. “It’s still in my memory – all the time about the poor soldiers. Some were only 18.”

He returned to Normandy on several occasions with the Royal British Legion, and in 2019 was joined by his daughter, Celia Broom, when 255 D-Day veterans joined a cruise ship to mark the 75th anniversary.

Mr Noble and his late wife, Margaret, were married for 56 years and had two children, a granddaughter and two great granddaughters.