D-Day hero Norman dies aged 99
TRIBUTES have been paid to a D-Day hero from Middleton who has died aged 99.
Norman Prior, who was awarded France’s highest decoration for his bravery at Dunkirk in 1940, passed away at Royal Oldham Hospital on Tuesday morning. He had been suffering from a chest infection.
Only 21 at the time, the young Fusilier fought a brave rearguard action through Belgium into France as the Nazis advanced from Germany across Europe towards Britain.
About 350,000 British, French and Belgian troops were evacuated across The Channel on a flotilla of small vessels.
But the course of World War II was to change and the Allies invaded Normandy four years later, going on to defeat Germany.
Fusilier Prior risked his life to enable the mass evacuation at Dunkirk and his heroics were finally recognised by France in 2015, when he was aged 96. He was awarded France’s highest decoration for bravery, becoming a Chevalier in the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur.
The honour, the equivalent of a knighthood, was personally recommended by the then president of France, Francois Hollande. It’s the highest distinction in an order of chivalry created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. In a letter to Norman, France’s ambassador to the UK Sylvie Bermann thanked him for his ‘steadfast involvement’ in World War II.
Norman went on to serve in North Africa and Italy with the King’s Own Hussars regiment during the war.
After his service, he became a director at engineering firm Hunt and Moscop. He had two children, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
His son David Prior, 70, told the M.E.N: “He was a much-loved father. Everybody who he met or whose path he crossed loved him. He was a great man, a really great guy.”