Known to his friends simply as Gordon, Sergeant Gordon-Hall was a crew member of one of the Tetrach tanks dropped by glider into occupied Normandy as the Allies struggled to forge a bridgehead in continental Europe.
But his glider crashed on landing, killing all those on board save Sergeant Gordon-Hall and one colleague. Miraculously, they survived to play their parts in the struggle to help bring the war to a conclusion although, by VE Day, Sergeant Gordon-Hall was serving in Burma.
On Monday, in the presence of the Lieutenant-Governor, Air Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, Mr Gordon-Hall received the Bailiff’s bronze medal to recognise his role in the D-Day landings.
Two years ago four members of the Normandy Veterans Association – Harry Fenn, Bill Reynolds, Ernest Thorne and Richard Wraight – had been similarly honoured by the Bailiff but Mr Gordon-Hall, not a member of the association himself, had to wait for his award, the pandemic conspiring to push back further the date of the ceremony.
His wife, Myfanwy, and son Alasdair, who had written to the Bailiff to request the medal, were also present for the special occasion.
‘My father has never really spoken of the war,’ his son said. ‘He was really pleased and he had a good chat with the Bailiff and the Governor but he was never interested himself in the medal. The first thing he said was that it was not about the medal; it was about all the other people.’
