Charles Hill | 1925-2016
D Company
6th Battalion The Green Howards
50th Infantry Division
Charles “Charlie” Hill enlisted in the British Army at the age of 18 in May 1943. He was assigned to D Company, 6th Battalion, The Green Howards (50th Infantry Division).
On June 6, 1944, he landed at 7:35 a.m. opposite La Rivière, Gold Beach sector. In the Landing Craft Assault carrying him, he was alongside Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis, who had been awarded the only Victoria Cross awarded for his D-Day actions in Normandy. Charles Hill recounts his landing as part of one of the first assault waves: “We landed more or less at the planned location. By the time we hit the ground, I couldn’t fire my weapon, which was covered in sand. Small arms fire was concentrated on the beach, while mortar shells exploded regularly. A flail tank was being cleared from a mined route, and we headed towards the German battery at Mont Fleury.”
“On June 6, 1944, I had matured. Rumors about our unit’s losses on that first day of the Battle of Normandy were circulating rapidly, and reached fifty killed and wounded. For those of us who had just experienced our baptism of fire, we were no longer rookies.”
The following day, June 7, 1944, his unit was mistakenly bombed during the passage of three American fighter jets: the entire company medical team was killed instantly.
Wounded in the head when a bullet struck his helmet, Charles Hill was evacuated to England for treatment. However, he returned to the front to participate in the Rhine crossing. “Charlie” remained in Germany until 1948, when he was demobilized. Back in Sheffield, he found work in a cutlery factory.
Decorated with the Legion of Honor in May 2016, he recounted on that occasion: “I often returned to Normandy to enjoy the peace and freedom I helped establish in France. The death and destruction I witnessed left a lasting impression on me, but we had to defeat Hitler and the Nazis.”
Charles Hill died on September 1, 2016.
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