Fred Adamson obituary: Yorkshire-born veteran of Normandy landings dies aged 105
Fred Adamson, who has died at 105, was one of the last remaining veterans of the Normandy landings in 1944.
He served in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry from 1940 to 1946, first in Iceland and later at Normandy, where he landed four days after D-Day and fought his way through France and northern Europe.
His service almost cost his life when his unit, experiencing ferocious resistance from German forces, was in the village of Poppel, near the Belgian border.
A mortar round landed as he tried to cross a school playground and he was caught in the blast, sustaining leg injuries.
It was only when he arrived at a dressing station that he realised more shrapnel had hit him in the chest, piercing one cigarette case in his breast pocket and denting another.
After he had recovered from his wounds, Fred returned to his regiment in Holland and fought through the second battle for Arnhem.
He was in Utrecht in May 1945 when the Germans surrendered but his service continued in Germany, Italy, and Austria until he was demobbed in 1946.
Fred was born in Kimberworth, Rotherham. His father died in 1931 in a colliery accident and Fred was determined not to follow him down the mines.
His first job was as a wages clerk at Amalgamated Denaby Collieries and he resumed his white collar colliery career after the war, serving a total of 46 years and finishing in management.
A lifelong Rotherham United fan, he married Elsie in January 1945 and they had five children, 11 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and a great, great grandchild.