Harry Billinge, the D-Day hero who put others before himself

THE passing of Harry Billinge, war hero, compassionate fundraiser and a man who maintained an upbeat and positive view of life, despite all he had endured, is a sad day for all those who knew him.

But for the nation as a whole, it is more than that. Harry, at 18 one of the first British servicemen ashore on the Normandy beaches in June 1944, is one of the last of a generation.

Combatants in the Second World War are now all in their 90s or older.

Just a handful who saw action at key moments of the fighting, like the Battle of Britain, the invasion of Scilly in 1943 or the final push to defeat

Hitler, which began a year later, are still with us.

And as journalist Nicholas Witchell – a founding trustee of the Normandy Memorial Trust for which Harry raised £50,000 – told yesterday’s service, the old soldier epitomised many of the best qualities of his remarkable generation.

He said Harry had an unwavering dedication to preserving the memory of his friends. The two met in a shared desire to have a memorial built in Normandy for the British soldiers who had fallen there.

“We, the Normandy Memorial Trust, had this most inspiring champion, a 90-something-year-old poster boy no less,” Mr Witchell said. “He was just a natural. People warmed to this wisp of a man with a winning smile, and his selfless commitment to honour the memory of his friends.

“For Harry it was never about him, it was always about them.”

That selflessness, which in the war years extended to putting their lives on the line for their country, is a quality that is shared by many who fought – and by those left at home who supported them.

Many, like Harry, were shaped at a very early age by the terrors of war, but also by the camaraderie and sense of purpose. It brought out the ability to put others before themselves and fight for a larger cause than their own personal well being.

And it extended long after the war was over, with acts of kindness and dedication to causes, including Harry’s fundraising. That fundraising began before the launch of the Normandy Memorial Appeal for Harry, selling poppies in St Austell – doing something to help those whose needs were greater than his own.

But it hardened into a powerful campaign to help create a lasting memorial to those less fortunate than Harry who never came back from the beaches. And, happily, it was a campaign that ended successfully. Last year, on October 26, Harry travelled to Normandy to see the memorial he had helped to get built.

Mr Witchell said taking Mr Billinge to Normandy to see that memorial last year was an emotional experience. The first thing the D-Day veteran did was look for the names of friends and the soldiers he fought with. That summed up Harry’s selflessness and reflected a way of thinking that was common 80 years ago as Britain stood against Nazi Germany. Would those same qualities shine through today, if a modern generation of teenagers and twenty-somethings faced similar challenges?

Let’s hope so – and that the legacy of Harry lives on.