Family's plea to give Harrogate D Day hero the farewell his bravery deserves

Maurice Hammond of Newby Crescent died aged 95 in Harrogate Hospital after a history of heart problems in the company of his family after a fall at home.

As a Royal Navy signalman barely old enough to go to war, Mr Hammond played a crucial role during the Normandy landings in 1944 aboard HMS Warspite, one of the British Navy’s most famous ships of the Second World War.

His funeral will take place at 11.40am on Monday, August 22 at Stonefall Cemetery and Crematorium on Wetherby Road in Harrogate.

Although his family will be gathering in force to give him a fitting goodbye, they say they would welcome members of the public who wish to pay their respects to this quiet man of courage.

His son, Maurice Hammond Jr said: "The funeral is not restricted to family only.

"My dad made a number of friends in Harrogate and my sister Jo and I would be pleased if people were minded to join us on the day to give him the send off he deserves."

Speaking of his experiences during the war, the late Maurice Hammond said: “I never worried on HMS Warspite.

“The Germans were firing 11-inch guns on us from land but they didn’t reach us; they would just hit the water.

“I helped a wee bit in the war but most of the good work was done before I joined. I treated the navy as a holiday, not a war.”