Tom Henley

Private Tom Henley embarked from Southampton docks on 5 June 1944 as part of the massive D-Day invasion force. His battalion landed on Gold Beach the following morning. Tom fought through Normandy, the liberation of Belgium, and the crossing of the Rhine into Germany. He was wounded twice but returned to his unit each time. He always said that the sight of Southampton docks packed with ships and men on the eve of D-Day was something he would never forget. After the war, he lived in Southampton and gave talks at local schools about the D-Day landings until well into his nineties.