Grantham D-Day veteran dies peacefully, aged 94
A war veteran who was shot in the D-Day landings has died at the age of 94.
Frank Northing passed away in Gregory House Care Home, in Grantham, on Tuesday.
He leaves two sons, Michael and David, and daughter Linda. Frank was left a widower 14 years ago after his wife Mabel died.
Born on July 25, 1925, Frank was just 18 years old when he hit the Normandy beaches as part of the D-Day landings at 6.30am on June 6, 1944. He was a Private and part of the now-disbanded Green Howards regiment.
Speaking to the Journal last year on the 75th anniversary of the landings, Frank said: “It was a harrowing time for me and my comrades. I was 18 years old back then and I remember having to wait for the weather to be ‘right’ on that Tuesday, June 6, 1944.
“We were given half a mug of rum for breakfast that morning for Dutch courage and because I don’t drink I didn’t like it much!
“After that we were all lowered into the water, which was up to our chests, and we waded through with our rifles above our heads.”
Frank bravely ran through the hail of rifle and machine fire on to the beach, but was shot in the arm, with the bullet exiting through his shoulder.
He said: “I looked at my arm and thought, what’s that? It was blood. The chap next to me said ‘you’ve been hit’.”
Frank was told that it was only a flesh wound, but later that week it was much more serious and he was sent home to recuperate for a month.
During this time on the military ward at Grantham Hospital, he was the first soldier to be treated with penicillin.
Frank continued: “A month or so later I was discharged from hospital and after a period of recuperation I was sent to Caen in France, where I went through Belgium, and at the Albert Canal our unit fought the Germans.”
He also helped to secure a bridge in Nijmegen, Holland, just managing to prevent the German forces from blowing it up.
But during this time, he was captured by the Germans when a tank shell hit a nearby mansion and knocked him out.
He suffered injuries to his ear and face, and was patched up by a German doctor, before advancing allies freed him soon after.
Following the war, although Grantham was his hometown, Frank returned to live in Hough-on-the-Hill, taking a job at RAF Spitalgate before moving to Coles Cranes, until it closed. He later retired, living on Alma Park Road, Grantham, before moving to Gregory House Care Home.
Last year, care home staff held a special high tea to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the bravery of Frank.
Meanwhile, Robert Morley, who befriended Frank six years ago while doing a job at his house as a plumber, was heavily involved in getting Frank awarded with France’s highest honour, the Legion d’Honneur, in 2016.
Robert paid tribute to his friend this week. He said: “I hit it off with Frank straight away, and what a back story. He intrigued me and I wanted to know more.
“Little by little he unfurled the memories of war he’d kept locked up for all those years, all the things that a soldier cannot unsee, the dismembered bodies of his comrades blown to bits before his eyes, the human cost of warfare.
“The horror of what he had witnessed never left him.
“It then dawned on me that he was entitled to the equivalent of the English Victoria Cross, the Legion D’honneur, France’s highest award for bravery eligible to all D-Day veterans. I got together the paperwork from the French Embassy in London and put in Frank’s application.
“We heard nothing for a good six months then low and behold it arrived out of the blue! Frank was ecstatic and, to be honest, I was feeling a little proud of myself.”
Upon receiving the Legion d’Honneur in the post, an emotional Frank told the Journal at the time: “It’s great. But I lost five mates on D-Day and a lot more after. I think about them. They have had no recognition whatsoever.”
Robert will always remember his friend fondly.
He said: “All through the time I knew Frank he never failed to make me laugh with an old gag or two.
“Sadly, his wife had passed on a good few years earlier but that hadn’t dulled the twinkle in his eye when he was around all the girls in his favourite lunch time hang out Costa – boy, did they make a fuss of him and boy, did he love it.
“To say I am heartbroken is an understatement. God bless and thank you for allowing me the great privilege of being your friend.
“Rest easy soldier, your duty is done.”