Basildon D-Day hero Don Sheppard dies at the age of 104

Don, who served in Normandy and at Arnhem, died at Basildon Hospital on Saturday morning from pneumonia. His family said he put up a brave fight but died peacefully.

Tomorrow would have marked Don’s 57th wedding anniversary to wife Sandra.

“He is at peace now but in our hearts forever,” said Don’s daughter Jo O’Brien.

“We are all devastated of course, but we want to try to celebrate dad’s life now. He gave us so much and we loved him more than words can say.”

Memories - serviceman Don and another with his medals (Image: Newsquest)

Don, a father, grandfather and great grandfather, was surrounded by his family in his final days and hours.

Even up to the day before he died, people visiting patients on the same ward were going up to his bed and asking to shake his hand.

Jo said: “When they heard a D-Day veteran was on the ward everyone wanted thank him for his service. That made him really happy.

“We couldn’t have asked for better care. The doctors and nurses were all absolutely incredible. They never gave up on dad. This was just his time.”

Don, who was born in Laindon and later moved to Basildon, had suffered several bouts of pneumonia in recent years and in April he was on the brink of death. He was so determined to hold on for the 80th anniversary of D-Day in June, however, that he bounced back.

For Don, despite receiving so many personal accolades, including being given Freedom of the Borough of Basildon in 2019, his focus was always on those who paid the ultimate price during the war.

He said: “The lads that didn’t make it back. They are the ones we need to remember.”

Don was called up at the beginning of the war and completed his army training at Colchester Garrison, before being sent off to fight in Sicily and north Africa.

By the time D-Day arrived in June of 1944 the 24-year-old Sapper was a despatch rider with the highly regarded 51st Scottish Division of the Royal Engineers.

Once Don got on to Juno beach, the sheer scale of the situation became clear. “There were shells and a whole lot of people killed. Bodies were everywhere,” he said.

By the evening of June 6, Don and his regiment had made their way to Pegasus Bridge in Ouistreham, France, where Don was injured by an enemy bomb.

“One of the explosions wounded my leg. I didn’t think it was a big deal really. I remember just bandaging it up and injecting myself with morphine,” he later recalled.

In 2008, an X-ray flagged up a “foreign body” in Don’s lungs and he feared it was cancer. It turned out to be shrapnel from the Pegasus Bridge explosion.

After the war Don settled in Basildon with Sandra to raise their family. He then began a new career driving oil tankers. He carried on working until he was 70.

It was when he retired that Don really began to revisit his wartime experiences and became involved with veterans groups.

Today, the British Normandy Memorial account posted on X: “We are saddened to hear of the death of 104-year-old D-Day veteran Donald Sheppard.

“Donald attended the virtual opening of the Memorial in 2021 & features in the Winston Churchill Centre @PoppyLegion exhibition.

“Thinking of Donald’s wife Sandra & family. Rest in Peace Don.”