Bill Gladden, a D-Day veteran who survived being shot in the leg by the Germans, has died at the age of 100. Gladden flew into Normandy on a military glider as part of the 6th Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment in 1944. He spent three years in a UK hospital after being shot and had been with his unit near the French village of Ranville at the time of the incident. Gladden was a popular figure among military veterans and a regular on trips to Normandy and the Netherlands with the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans.
Dick Goodwin, honorary secretary of the charity, described Gladden as “one-in-a-million who was adored by everyone he met”. Gladden had a “wonderful, gentle voice” and enjoyed singing some of his favorite wartime songs, Goodwin said. Gladden had volunteered for airborne duties and flown into Normandy from the former RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset. He is survived by his daughter Linda Durrant, her husband Kenny, and his niece Kaye Thorpe and her husband Alan, who cared for him in his later years.
Before his service, Gladden had worked as a builder, and after his recovery, he held various factory and payroll department jobs. Mrs. Thorpe said that at his party in January, her “bright as a button” uncle had been hoping to return to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day in June. “Stand easy sir, your duty is done,” Dick Goodwin said
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