One of the first men to storm Nazi-occupied France on D-Day has died aged 102. Trooper Roy Cadman served with No. 3 Commando, whose task on June 6, 1944, was to push inland and link up with the 6th Airborne Division in the Pegasus Bridge area.
He died at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, home to nearly 300 Chelsea Pensioners who previously served in the British Army, on Tuesday, on the eve of the 81st anniversary of the fabled Normandy invasion in which he played a critical part. Born Stuart “Roy” Cadman on March 26, 1923, he was told he was too young to fight when he put his name down to join the Commandos in 1940, so lied about his age.
He signed up to fight at the age of 17 and, during service in Africa and Europe, was shot, captured, and escaped.
He was held as a prisoner of war during the Sicilian invasion but managed to escape before helping to play a pivotal role in the D-Day invasion.
For the past 50 years he was a regular visitor to Normandy undertaking a personal pilgrimage to pay his respects to fallen friends.
He was last the member of the fable unit raised by the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in July 1940 from volunteers for special service, it was the first to carry the title of “Commando”.
It was once remarked of Mr Cadman that: “If they’d had more soldiers like Roy, the war would have been over sooner.”
D-Day saw some 156,000 British, American, and Canadian forces land on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of French coast, supported by thousands of ships, landing vessels, planes and gliders, and with inland help from French resistance fighters.
Speaking ahead of the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, Mr Cadman recalled: “The war was on, it was my 17th birthday, and I thought if I wait until I am 18 I will miss it all.
“My mother was crying her eyes out and my father thought it would do me good.
“I volunteered for the Commandos. Our task was to land on Sword Beach. It was all barbed wire, iron posts, and landmines plonked every 30-40 yards. I can’t describe the noise, and the flames, but it was a case of we were the only ones there and we had to do it because these people had to be beat. We went ashore with green berets, everyone else had tin hats.
“Our objective was to meet the 6th Airborne who captured Pegasus Bridge…but we were in such a state we couldn’t go any further. Yet when we go out there [Normandy] now we are all bloody heroes.”
Dick Goodwin, Vice President of the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, said: “Roy was a true British hero.”