SECOND World War veteran Bill Reynolds – the final member of Jersey’s Normandy Veterans Association – was laid to rest on Friday after passing away earlier this month aged 100.
In a moving ceremony at St Saviour’s parish church attended by family, friends and dignitaries including the Lieutenant-Governor, Vice-Admiral Jerry Kyd, tributes were paid to the much-loved Islander who saw action in one of the seminal battles of the six-year conflict.
Mr Reynolds – a father-of-three – landed on Sword Beach ten days after D-Day as a member of the Guards Armoured Division and went on to fight in the Battle for Caen and Operation Market Garden in German-occupied Netherlands.
Vividly recalling his time in Normandy during an interview with the JEP in June to mark both his centenary and Armed Forces Day, Mr Reynolds said: “You can’t forget it. When you have laid in a silt trench with a bomb two feet away from you and another four feet away and you can’t get out because of the explosions and you were under full-scale attack, you’ll always remember it.”
Returning to Jersey after the war, Mr Reynolds began working as a fresh-fish delivery driver before establishing the successful wholesaler W J Reynolds.
Mr Reynolds was given a guard of honour at the service, during which a eulogy was read by historian Chris Stone, a long-time friend of the veteran.
