George Chandler: D-Day veteran escorted American forces onto beaches dies aged 99

George was 19 when he was dispatched with the 59th flotilla on June 6, 1944, to escort the US army assault on Omaha and Utah beaches.

Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the landings, he said many of the books written about the operation were “silly” and “a load of old rubbish”.

He told an interviewer: “I was there, how can I forget it? It’s a very sad memory because I watched young American Rangers, not shot, slaughtered.

“At 4 o’clock in the morning, as the sun came up, as far as you could see were boats and ships. Absolutely amazing. We watched all the planes going over and the sea was covered from horizon to horizon with ships of all shapes and sizes.

“Unfortunately, due to a navigation error, the Americans were landed a mile and a half too far to the west, and were slaughtered as they came in. Half of them didn’t have time to get off their assault craft. It was something I wouldn’t want anybody to watch.

“I will never forget the sight of seeing those brave young men fighting and dying as they struggled to get off the beach.”

For about three months without a break, George’s flotilla returned to Newhaven each night for refuelling and rearming and a few hours of sleep before returning across the Channel.

After the Normandy campaign, his boat was deployed to the Mediterranean where it suffered damage before being sunk in April 1945.

He said: “I think the saddest thing that happened during my naval career was when we were sunk. We hit a mine and it blew the bows off the boat. Nineteen of the 31 crew on board were killed.

“The oldest man on the ship was 29. I can see him now, standing there saying, ‘Don’t panic lads, we’ll all get out’. I never saw him again. The saddest thing about it was that his wife had given birth to a little girl three weeks beforehand in England. He never ever saw her.

“I look back and I think about the 19 good shipmates of mine who now lie at the bottom of the Adriatic sea. They went down with the boat when it hit the mine.

“There’s still lots of people who think there’s fun in war. There’s no fun in war. No fun in war at all.”

After the war George worked for the General Post Office and then BT, before retiring in the 1980s, giving him more time to enjoy his passion of golf. He was an honorary life member at Haywards Heath Golf Club in West Sussex.

He is survived by his son, Paul, and his grandchildren. The family plans to scatter some of his ashes in the Adriatic.