"One of the last surviving D-Day pilots, Bill Eames from County Fermanagh, has died aged 97. The RAF pilot was involved in two of the second world war's key battles, the Allied plan to secure Pegasus Bridge and Operation Market Garden. In 2020, he was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Queen's New Year's Honours List. The recognition was for community work and services to the Royal Air Forces Association. Speaking in 2019, Mr Eames said it was an "honour" to be receiving the award. "It helps bring attention to the work of the Royal Air Forces Association, especially it's Fermanagh Branch, and their care for the welfare of ex-RAF personnel in my home County Fermanagh," he explained. The Enniskillen-born serviceman spent D-Day helping to tow gliders to Ouistreham in Normandy on 6 June 1944. The troops onboard the gliders would go on to secure Pegasus Bridge, a key Allied objective in preventing a counter-attack by German forces. The flight lieutenant was injured during another of the second world war's most significant events, Operation Market Garden. For its first two days, Mr Eames dropped glider-borne soldiers into the area around Arnhem in the Netherlands. The plan was a failed attempt to secure an Allied advance into Germany. On the third day of the operation, Flt Lt Eames was badly injured by anti-aircraft fire while resupplying ground troops from a low level. Although wounded, he carried on and helped the other members of the crew to bring the bomber home, when he collapsed and was hospitalised with a lengthy stay." www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54960231
When I hear stories like this I think of just how sad it was when young people died during the war...people at the time wonder about the life that dead person could/should have had...in this bloke's case another 75 years!