Tributes for Yorkshire Second World War veteran Fred Adamson who has died aged 105
Tributes have been pouring in for Yorkshire Second World War veteran Fred Adamson, who has died aged 105, and whose proudest possession was the two cigarette cases which once saved his life in battle.
Mr Adamson, who lived under the reign of five monarchs and 23 prime ministers, was born in Kimberworth, Rotherham, in 1919, moving to Conisbrough in 1926.
Determined not to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was killed in a mining accident at Cadeby Colliery, he became a wages clerk at Amalgamated Denaby Collieries.
He was called up in 1940 after war broke out, and was posted to the 1/4th Battalion, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He served in Iceland until 1942, training for Arctic warfare. On June 10, 1944, “D-Day plus 4”, he landed on Gold Beach, Normandy, and went on to fight his way through France, Belgium and Holland.
His grandson Philip Knight, who began accompanying him on battlefield tours in 1989, said Fred’s worst experiences came at Tessel Wood in France in 1944, where he lost many comrades including 17-year-old Ronnie McGrath, also from Conisbrough, the youngest in his regiment to be killed in action.
"He talked about putting his rifle down to get digging for cover. The first attack came as he was trying to scrape the earth.
"He said it was just horrendous.”
Fred had incredible luck in October 1944 when he was injured by shrapnel from a mortar bomb, and felt blood running down his legs. At a First Aid station he was asked by the padre whether he was a smoker. He took his cigarette cases out of his breast pocket and realised that the blast he’d felt in his chest was shrapnel, and they had prevented it from going into his heart.
"The padre was after cadging the cases, but he said no, not on your nelly. He was more proud of them than he was his campaign medals.”
While recuperating in England, he married his beloved wife Elsie, with whom he had five children.
He returned to the front in Holland and fought through several battles, including the second battle for Arnhem. He was in Utrecht in May 1945 when the Germans surrendered. He stayed in Germany, Italy, and Austria, protecting civilians and carrying out policing duties until demob in 1946.
He returned to his job in wages in the coal industry, serving 46 years – in retirement becoming the oldest member of British Coal’s superannuation scheme. He was awarded the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest decoration, in November 2016.
Philip said his "warm, fastidious and thrifty” grandfather was a “hero who yielded to none” – Fred’s regimental motto being “Cede Nullis”.
In recent years Fred had become something of a media sensation – “something he never quite understood”. The Royal British Legion was among those who expressed condolences, recalling the pleasure of taking Fred to Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019.
Historian Paul Reed said: “We owe so much to men like Fred and must ensure their deeds are never forgotten.”