Northumberland D-Day veteran Bill Wake remembered at service
A service of celebration has been held for a D-Day veteran who died in December. William Wake, from Ulgham near Morpeth, Northumberland, was an 18-year-old medical orderly when the largest seaborne invasion in history took place on 6 June 1944.He had just finished training and was stationed on the south coast when he was told he would be leaving on an LST tank landing ship.His family said they hoped the service at Longhirst Church on Saturday reflected his "wonderful personality, his dependability and kindness".
Born in Felling in 1925, Mr Wake began his military service on 2 November 1943 and trained as a sick birth attendant.D-Day was his first time at sea.
In an interview for the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, Mr Wake described getting tanks on to the beach."We saw the lads that were there, we saw them trying to get their wounded pals into shelter. "They had to get so far back so the tide wouldn't overtake them."By the end of the day they had 225 casualties on board, loaded three high on stretchers.Mr Wake crossed the channel several times taking casualties to safety before being sent to Australia where he met his future wife, Nerida.
It is not known exactly how many British D-Day veterans are still alive, but just 25 travelled to France for the 80th anniversary commemorations in June. Mr Wake's daughter Yvonne Gallimore said she and her sister Helen Vineer were "deeply grateful" so many had joined the service and paid tribute to him. "Often it is not until you have lost someone do you realise how very special they were," she said."Too often we take people for granted but dad never did."He was a selfless man, always mild mannered, humble and dependable."
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