A hero who saved countless lives as a Second World War stretcher bearer, even carrying one wounded soldier for two miles over his shoulder to reach safety, has died at 100.
Denis Bounsall enlisted at just 15, underage, but determined to serve his country, which he did with extraordinary bravery, once taking two prisoners armed with just a pair of scissors.
He saw action in Malta, Normandy, Holland, Italy and Germany, and survived three different assault landings, including D-Day, in just 11 months.
He won a Distinguished Conduct Medal for collecting casualties in a battle in Agira, Sicily, under fire with “absolute disregard of his personal safety”.
Denis joined the 1st Battalion the Dorsetshire Regiment in 1936.
He was a stretcher bearer during the two-year Siege of Malta, between 1940 and 1942, when it became “the most bombed place on earth” thanks to frequent Luftwaffe raids.
Denis then returned to England to train for the Allied invasion of Europe.
He landed at Gold Beach at 8am on D-Day and later spoke about his experiences. Denis said: “We were under constant fire and my job was just to pick people up as they fell. I would listen for the screams around me and do what I could to assist.”
One of just 1,879 soldiers awarded a DCM, after the war he became a stained glass window artist and emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, where he died.
French historian Gerard Pouchain met Denis in 2004, when he returned to the Normandy town of Asnelles, where he had landed on June 6, 1944, and presented the community with a glass panel bearing his regimental crest.
Mr Pouchain said: “He will forever remain at the heart of the community where he landed in 1944.”
A spokesman for The Keep Military Museum in Dorchester said: “We will remember Denis as a brave soldier, keen artist and friend.”
Richard Palusinski, chairman of the Spirit of Normandy Trust, said: “We owe Denis and all his comrades a tremendous debt of thanks.”
