Hagley Second World War veteran Barry Freeman has died

D-Day veteran Barry Freeman was awarded the Legion D'honneur - the highest honour the French government can bestow on a soldier - for his part in the liberation of France from German occupation.

Mr Freeman was a private in the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, having been called up to serve on April 1, 1943, when he was 18 years old.

Private Barry Freeman of the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, taken at Turnpike Camp, Hythe, in February 1944

Prior to that, he had grown up in Hagley, living in a flat above his mother's shop with his brother John and sister Margaret. His mother looked after them single-handedly after their father died in 1938.

Mr Freeman spent many happy hours in the Hagley Rambler Scouts, playing escape and evasion games in the grounds of Hagley Hall, and said he thought it was those days of learning to keep his head down that meant he was able to cope with the rigours of various missions and survive war.

It was at the Norton and Hythe Barracks that Mr Freeman spent his first few months training for battle.

He was allowed to shoot left-handed - something not many soldiers were permitted to do - but he became an excellent shot, taking third place in a national competition, and said it was his shooting skill that ultimately saved his life.

After the war, Barry Freeman served as a guard at the Panzer Barracks in the small German city of Hamm

Mr Freeman and the rest of The Worcesters, as they became known, landed in Normandy on June 22, 1944 on Juno Beach.

He drove an American half-track vehicle up onto the beach with steel shutters covering the windscreen, more than half submerged in seawater and all the while facing German fire.

In an article in the Royal British Legion magazine in 2019, Mr Freeman said: "We just had to keep going."

They joined up with some Canadian units soon after, which is how he became involved in Operation Windsor in July 1944.

Barry Freeman receiving the Legion d’Honneur from the Honorary Consul for France Robert Mille at St Peter’s Garden Centre in Norton in 2016

Part of Mr Freeman's job was also to keep the units in the front line supplied with water and he drove a truck with a water bowser on the back, which ended up with several bullet holes in.

He had many close calls during the war and was injured three times.

After being demobbed in 1946, Mr Freeman returned to Hagley before moving to Stourport and began working in the building trade, later specialising in refrigeration.

He attended many church events, which is where he met his wife Brenda. The pair were married for 60 years and had one daughter, Rachel, but Brenda sadly died in 2010 - something "he never fully recovered from".

Former Worcestershire Regiment soldier, Barry Freeman receives the French Chevalier National Order of the Legion of Honour from the Honorary Consul for France, Robert Mille

When recalling his memories of war, Mr Freeman would say he made a lot of friends, but also lost a lot of friends.

On receiving the Legion D'Honneur from the French consul in 2016, Mr Freeman said the award was "beyond his comprehension" and paid tribute to the friends he lost, saying: "The other thing I remember from the war are my comrades who never came home."

Mr Freeman is believed to have been one of the last few remaining Normandy veterans in Worcestershire.

Paying tribute to her father, Mr Freeman's daughter Rachel Freeman-Morris, 57, who also lives in Stourport, said: "When I was younger, my father didn't really part much information about his time in the war - to me especially.

Former Worcester Regiment soldiers, Alan George, Barry Freeman and Eric Tipping unveil a plaque in a commemorative garden in Norton

"It was through his time with the Worcestershire Regiment in later life that I began hearing stories about his regimental life and his experiences at Normandy.

"When he came home, he trained in most trades - plumbing, electrics and carpentry - but he diversified and decided to go into refrigeration which was quite up and coming at the time.

"He became a sales engineer and was quite sought after for his knowledge. He did some work for the Ministry of Defence and in an atomic energy plant, it was quite specialist at the time.

"He was very dedicated to his work, sometimes to the detriment of family life, which he found quite upsetting, having to leave myself and mum for several days at a time. But he was the main bread winner so he had to do it, he just got on with it.

"He was always the kind of bloke who thought no problem was too big, everything was solvable and he always had an answer. If you had any problems, you could go to him.

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"In his later years, he wasn't as fit and healthy but his advice was always invaluable. The amount of information he had in his head was phenomenal.

"I had a naïve sort of upbringing and it wasn’t until years later that I realised by hearing all of his stories what a brave man he was. He was injured several times but he carried on.

"He didn't boast, he just kept quiet about everything he did during the war. On many occasions, he would mention to me his regret and profound sadness at the loss of so many of his comrades.

"I can't think of anything braver than for someone to go out and fight for their country."

Mr Freeman passed away on January 3.