17-06-2025
Funeral celebrates life of much-loved D-Day veteran
The funeral of one of the last survivors of the assault on the D-Day beaches in 1944 has been held at Wiltshire crematorium.
Cecil Newton, from the village of Aldbourne and died at the age of 101, was 20 years old on D-Day when he was part of a tank crew sent to attack a German blockhouse. His amphibious Sherman Tank was among the first to land on Gold Beach on 6 June.
Described as "feisty, driven, a little bit mischievous", he was involved in the D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations, and even had a French school named after him.
Major Graeme Green, the regimental secretary for the Royal Dragoon Guards, described Mr Newton as a "great guy" who always had a "little glint in his eye".
He added that Mr Newton was "driven to commemorate his fallen comrades".
At the funeral earlier at North Wiltshire Crematorium, near Royal Wootton Bassett, a message was played from the Cecil Newton Primary School in Normandy.
Mr Newton was a trooper in the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and a loader in an amphibious Sherman Tank crew.
"I was never nervous. I was too young to be nervous. I hadn't got the imagination," he said in a BBC interview about D-day.
Along with his crew, he was in action for just a few moments.
"It was just off the landing craft into the water, an engagement with the blockhouse and then we sank," he said.
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Later in the war, in November 1944, he was severely wounded with a leg injury and was shot three times when his tank came under attack in a German village.
He described himself as "exceptionally lucky to survive" the later attack.
Amongst those he knew who died in the war was Mr Newton's brother Frederic - shot dead by two Germans who raised their hands to surrender, but then opened fire.
In June 2024, Mr Newton travelled back to France to take part in the D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations.
He also visited a French school named after him and some of the places his comrades fell in battle.
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