Hundreds of people attend funeral of D-Day hero Don Sheppard who died at 104

With a police escort from his home in Basildon, Essex, Don Sheppard's coffin was carried on a gun carriage through the same streets in which he often led Remembrance Day parades

Eighty years after he stormed the beach at Normandy, Sapper Don Sheppard was given the send-off he deserved today.

Hundreds of people turned out to pay their respects to the D-Day hero, who died last month aged 104. With a police escort from his home in Basildon, Essex, Don’s coffin was carried on a gun carriage through the same streets in which he often led Remembrance Day parades.

Locals bowed their heads in tribute to a man many considered a legend. Eight soldiers from his regiment, the Royal Engineers, carried the coffin down the aisle at St Martin’s Church, packed with other representatives of the armed forces, as well as from the veterans’ charities he supported.

The Rev Simon Law read out a moving eulogy written by Don’s family, before his daughter Jo and two of his grandchildren provided their own personal memories. They told how dispatch rider Don served in North Africa and Sicily, before taking part in D-Day.

Aged just 24, he arrived at Juno Beach in a landing craft, and saw men he had trained with gunned down around him. He was second off the boat in a scout car, which came under enemy fire before it sank into a bomb crater, but he survived.

Later, Don was one of the first British soldiers to encounter the horrific scenes at Belsen concentration camp. After the war, he returned to Essex, working a variety of jobs. In 1994, when he was 74, he went to Normandy, a trip which became a regular pilgrimage for him and his family.

He became chair of the Essex branch of the Normandy Veterans’ Association and was a fundraiser for the Royal British Legion. “Don had a zest for life, but wanted us to remember the sacrifices made by the fallen,” his family wrote.