Major John Howard DSO

Major John Howard DSO, 1912-1999, who led a glider-borne assault on two bridges between Benouville and Ranville in Normandy, France, codenamed Operation Deadstick, on 6 June 1944 as part of the D-Day landings during the Second World War. These bridges spanned the Caen Canal and the adjacent River Orne (about 500 yards to the east), and were vitally important to the success of the D-Day landings. Since the war the bridge over the canal has become known as Pegasus Bridge, as a tribute to the men who captured it. The original Pegasus Bridge is in the background of the picture. It has now been replaced. First published Saga Magazine 1992

Buckinghamshire Caen D-day Heroism Landings Liberate Oxfordshire Pegasus

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