Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Normandy hero never forgot and neither shall we
Brave gunner gets his FINAL Wish - Carried on gun Carriage A veteran of the Normandy landings in 1944 got his dying wish as he was taken through Canterbury on a Second World War gun carrier. Chief reporter Gerry Warren joined mourners for Albert Figg’s fi
He survived the horrors of war but never forgot his fellow soldiers who didn’t make it home.
Instead, Albert Figg dedicated his life to ensuring the pivotal battle they fought in Normandy was recognised and that memorials to the fallen were created.
He was a gunner in the Royal Artillery whose field regiment was tasked with attacking and winning a strategic hill near Caen in July 1944, in the face of opposition from fearsome German Panzer divisions.
While Mr Figg was behind the front line launching 25 pounders at the enemy, he knew the British infantrymen and armoured crews were taking heavy losses.
And it was for those brave men lost in the battle for Hill 112 that he spent his retirement campaigning.
Mr Figg, 97, who lived in Rough Common Road in Canterbury, died on July 3, but mourners at his funeral at St Edmund’s School chapel on Friday heard he had left behind a lasting legacy.
He arrived at St Edmund’s – his coffin painted with scenes of poppy fields and the Royal Artillery badge – on a “quad and limber” gun carrier, the type he used in Normandy, Arnhem and Germany. Waiting to receive him was a guard of honour formed by the Royal Artillery and Canterbury Royal British Legion. He was carried into the chapel to the sound of wartime favourites by The Swingtime Sweethearts
The congregation was welcomed by chaplain to the Normandy Veterans, Mandy Reynolds, whose own father was a veteran of the conflict. She said they had come together to remember “a character they knew and loved”.
The gathering heard how through Mr Figg’s tireless efforts over almost 30 years he had achieved recognition for those who died in the 10-week battle for Hill 112, which German Field Marshal Rommel had described as “the most important hill in Normandy”.
He was driven with a passion to create memorials to the fallen and educate younger genera- tions because he felt the battle and sacrifice for Hill 112 had not been fully appreciated.
Not only did Mr Figg raise funds for a Challenger tank to be placed at the site as a memorial to the tank crews who lost their lives, but also a statue of an infantryman in recognition of the thousands of foot soldiers who died.
But he sadly passed away before he could see his latest project – an arboretum in the form of a Maltese cross of trees – come to fruition.
It was unveiled this month by the Duke of Wessex, Prince Edward, who wrote a letter of sympathy to Mr Figg’s family, which was read at his funeral by his daughter, Annette. It read: “The memorial owes its exist-